Evergreens and Angels by Mary Manners

approached the table. “I’m back.”
    Dillon’s head shot up. “Jacqui.” He blanched white as the tablecloth as she neared. “What are you doing here?”
    “Well, that’s a fine how-do-you-do.” She dropped her purse on the floor and nudged Nancy aside to peck him on the cheek. “It’s good to see you, too. I see I’m just in time for the party. She scanned the length of the table, nodding appreciatively. “Wyatt, Reese, Maddie…Hattie. Hail, hail the gang’s all here. Well, isn’t this a comfy little gathering.”
    “I wasn’t expecting you.” Dillon shifted Nancy in his arms, perching her on the leg closer to Brynn.
    “Obviously.” Jacqui shimmied onto the seat beside him. Her gaze drifted to Brynn and her smile grew by the megawatt as she extended a hand. “Nice to meet you…er…”
    “Brynn Jansen.”
    “Oh, yes. Nice to meet you, Brynn. I’m Jacqueline Roberts. I suppose Dillon’s mentioned me.”
    “Actually…no.”
    Jacqueline’s laughter rang like broken glass. “That’s certainly a surprise, since the last time we were together we discussed marriage.”
     
     
     
     

8
     
    Brynn opened the oven door, savoring the rush of heat that enveloped her and chased away the chill. Cinnamon wafted as steam carried the scent of cookies through the kitchen. This was the second batch of the day, one she planned to run by the hospital later to share with Sarah and Janie and the nurses at the pediatric wing.
    A group of nurses she’d never belong to. After last night’s fiasco with the illustrious Jacqui Roberts, she’d crumpled the job notice and tossed it into the dumpster on her way out the back door of Pappy’s. Now, nearly twenty-four hours and eight-dozen cookies later, her nerves were finally untangling.
    Following the presumptuous Jacqui’s grand entrance and “marriage” announcement, Dillon had quickly plopped Nancy onto Brynn’s lap and rushed from the restaurant with the stilt-clad woman in tow. No censure of her outrageous intrusion. No denial of Jaqui’s claim. Brynn could only assume the woman was telling the truth. It had given Brynn a measure of satisfaction to watch the overbearing woman teeter on the edge of stumbling as Dillon tugged her through the foyer’s double-paned doors and across the boulevard toward the nursery office. Their silhouette, illuminated by moonlight, was burned into Brynn’s memory.
    As were the astounded, sympathetic and gaping stares of those who remained at the table. Utter silence reigned for the better part of a minute before Hattie blurted, “Now I remember why I never cared much for that woman.”
    Followed by Gramps’s disgruntled, “Well, I’ll be.”
    It certainly hadn’t helped when Reese chimed in. “Looks like Dillon has a mess to clean up, and it’s sure to take more than a mop.”
    Brynn would never know what comments followed. She’d passed Nancy along to Maddie and, without so much as a glance back, fled in tears.
    Big, tough-girl she was. Not.
    Why had Dillon never mentioned this woman? If it were over between them, why keep that part of his life a secret? She was a fool for trusting his charm, his kisses…the nostalgia of her long-harbored, but childish notion of the two of them together. In reality, she’d known Dillon only a matter of weeks.
    And what did she really know about him?
    The walk home had cleared her head, making the only plausible plan-of-action clear: hightail it back to Jacksonville, pronto.
    Gran was nearly back to her old self, and Gramps could manage just fine now on his own. Even Janie had boarded the express train to healing and the doctor felt certain she’d usher in the New Year from her own home.
    So only one issue remained—Christmas with Santa.
    Dillon had tossed a serious wrench into that plan—right along with Jacqui.
    No, she’d tossed the wrench in, by letting down her guard and depending on Dillon’s help. She should have known better. Nothing is ever as it seems, even when it