the huge yard ornaments in the shape of everything Christmas and the reindeer that appeared to dance down the hillside. She guessed that they were constructed of wire forms and then covered with mistletoe.
“Bob has gone plumb Christmas crazy,” Jake said as they followed Libby down the candy-cane path. “Last time I was here he only had a couple of those yard blow-ups.”
“How long ago has that been?”
She didn’t miss the slight darkening of his eyes. “A little over five years ago,” he replied.
She realized that this was the first time he’d been here since his wife’s death, and the fact that he’d invited them here meant even more than it had before.
She wrapped her arm with his and smiled up at him. “Let’s go have some fun.”
“That’s the plan.” He smiled down at her, the darkness in his eyes gone.
They found an empty bench and sat. Immediately Libby and Jake began to put on their skates. When he had on his, he turned to look at her. “And why don’t you skate?”
“To be honest, because of my dancing I’ve always been a little afraid. I feel the same about skiing. The last thing I want is a broken bone that interferes with my livelihood. But I do make a great sideline cheerleader.”
By that time Libby had her skates on, but as Jake got up and stepped out on the ice, Libby remained seated next to Melody. “I’m afraid,” she said in a small voice. She grabbed hold of Melody’s arm. “I haven’t skated for a long, long time.”
Jake bent down in front of her. “It’s kind of like riding a bike, Libby. You never really forget how. It’s been a long, long time for me, too.”
He stood and took off across the ice, zigging and zagging around colorful-clad children and other adults. He looked amazing, both athletic yet graceful. Melody loved the way he wore his worn jeans tight and topped them with the suede jacket with the white wool lining, which made his shoulders appear even broader.
He made any other man on the pond look a bit smaller and insubstantial, a bit clumsy and so ordinary. Jake was definitely hot on ice.
He skated back to them and then once again squatted down in front of Libby and held out his hand. “Come on, Libby, come skate with me.”
She looked at his hand and then gazed up at her mother. Melody remained silent. She didn’t want to force Libby to do anything she didn’t want to do.
“Libby, you can trust me. As long as you hold my hand I promise you that I won’t let you fall,” Jake said.
Libby held his gaze for a long moment and then slipped her little hand into his and stood. Melody didn’t realize she’d been holding her breath until it released on a sigh of relief.
Her heart expanded as she saw Jake and her daughter venture out onto the ice hand in hand. She’d not only grieved her own loss of Seth as a husband, but also grieved for Libby no longer having a daddy or a strong male presence in her life.
Melody knew the statistics of the failure of young girls to thrive without a positive male role model in their lives, and seeing the happiness on Libby’s face as she skated with Jake she was grateful for his presence as a neighbor...as a friend...and she was beginning to hope as something much more.
As Jake and Libby skated, several women who had children taking lessons at her studio stopped by to say hello to Melody. She chatted with people, cuddled under the blanket Jake had provided, and raised her hand to wave at the couple on the ice who held her heart.
After twenty minutes or so, Libby was on the other side of the pond with friends and Jake was skating back toward Melody and the bench. “She’s a natural,” he said, sitting down next to her. “By the time she met up with her friends, she was pretty much skating without me.”
“Thanks for helping her over her stage fright,” Melody replied. “Are you warm enough? I’ll be glad to share the blanket.”
He blew on his bare hands. “Thanks, I’d welcome it. I forgot to bring my gloves.”
She moved closer to him and arranged the blanket over the two of them, then grabbed one of his hands and grasped it firmly in her gloved hands. “Silly man to forget your gloves,” she said teasingly.
“Smart woman to share the blanket,” he replied with a twinkle in his eyes.
She settled against the back of the bench, acutely aware of every place their bodies touched beneath the blanket. Although she hadn’t been overly warm before, with his thigh and hip against hers, a flaming heat burned inside her.
He finally pulled his hand from hers and for a few minutes they watched the skaters on the ice. Melody kept an eye on her daughter, who had found Megan, and the two were on the ice together, barely moving around the edges of the pond.
“Tell me about your husband,” he said. “I’ve told you a little about Stacy, but you haven’t told me much about the man you were married to.”
She gazed at him and then looked back at the skaters. “Seth and I were high school sweethearts. We started going steady in seventh grade and never dated others. I had just graduated from college when my parents were killed in a small plane crash while they were on vacation. Seth was my rock through that horrible time, and after I’d grieved, he asked me to marry him.”
“So you were young when you married.”
“I suppose in this day and age twenty-two is considered young, but I didn’t feel young. I had no desire to sow any wild oats. All I really wanted was to be a wife and eventually a mother and own a dance studio.”
“It was a happy marriage?”
She paused a moment before replying, thinking back over her marriage. “Yes, for the most part it was a happy one. We only had one topic that we fought about. Seth was a rodeo cowboy. He rode bulls and broncs. I hated it. He followed the circuit so he was gone a lot and I was always afraid.” She shrugged. “And then my worst fear came true. He was at a rodeo riding a bronc and fell. The horse’s hooves came down on his head and he died instantly.”
“I’m sorry,” Jake replied, and the emotion behind the words let her know he wasn’t just saying an empty platitude.
“I tell myself that at least he died loving what he did. Seth lived for those adrenaline-filled moments on the back of a wild beast. I’ll always have a special place in my heart for Seth, but life goes on.”
For the next few minutes the two of them sat silently, watching the skaters. It was a comfortable silence. Melody was not warmed just by the blanket, but also by the very presence of the man seated next to her and her daughter’s laughter drifting across the pond.
She wanted to take this moment and wrap a bright red ribbon around it, top it with a sprig of mistletoe and hold it in her heart. It was a wonderful new memory that she would carry with her from this day forward.
Her gaze lingered on Libby and she frowned. “I’m a little bit worried about this Santa secret thing that Libby has,” she said. She turned and looked at Jake. “I’ve bought her nearly everything she asked for, but I don’t have any idea what special gift she’s expecting from Santa.”
“She
