A Christmas Miracle for Daisy (Taming of the Sheenans Book 5) (17 page)

The chocolate shop was busy with customers ordering last minute chocolate turkeys and cornucopias for their Thanksgiving tables, but Whitney was happy to wait her turn.

The pretty redhead owner, Sage, was behind the counter with two aproned helpers today, and even though she was slammed, she spotted Whitney and made a point of waiting on her personally. “How are you?” she asked warmly. “How is everything at the Bramble House?”

“How did you know I was staying there?”

“Eliza Bramble is my cousin.”

“Small town.”

Sage laughed. “Very small. And I know almost everyone here.” She offered Whitney a chocolate truffle sample.

Whitney popped the dark spicy chocolate into her mouth. Her eyes widened.

“Mango chile,” Sage said. “It’s got a bit of heat.”

“But delicious.” Whitney licked a smudge of chocolate from her lip. “I wanted to get three boxes of something to give for Thanksgiving gifts. What do you recommend?”

“I’d do a mix of our salted caramels and truffles.”

“Let’s do that.”

As Sage rang up the purchase she asked Whitney if she was going to be joining the Sheenans for Thanksgiving.

Whitney shook her head. “No. I think that would be awkward for all.”

“Taylor was in here yesterday. She said you watched the football game with them on Sunday and that you were wonderful. I’m sure you’d be welcome over there—”

“It’s not that comfortable for Cormac and me.”

Sage shot her an assessing glance. “But you’re here in Marietta with him.”

“Working for him.”

“Taylor said you two used to date.”

Whitney flushed, cheeks growing hot. She didn’t know where to look. “It’s complicated.”

“I had one of those relationships,” Sage replied, sympathy in her eyes.

“How did that turn out?”

Sage grinned. “I married him.”

*

Whitney didn’t need
to worry about having to eat at the diner for Thanksgiving dinner. She ended up getting an invitation from Taylor and Troy—which she turned down—as well as an invite from Eliza Bramble to join the Brambles and Carrigans at the Circle C Ranch.

Whitney turned that invite down, too, until Sage, the owner of Copper Mountain Chocolates, showed up at the B&B Wednesday night and urged Whitney to accept the invitation to join her family for dinner at the Carrigan ranch. “You can’t spend Thanksgiving alone,” she said. “It’s wrong. Come with us to dinner. Dawson and I can pick you up so you don’t have to worry about finding the Circle C—”

“I don’t want you to have to fuss.”

“It’s not a hassle. We live just down the street so it’d be very easy to swing by and scoop you up. It’s always fun to have a new face at the table.”

*

Dawson, Sage and
Savannah picked Whitney up at noon. It was a twenty minute drive to the Paradise Valley ranch and Sage pointed out various properties and landmarks on the way. It was a clear day, and bitingly cold. Even at noon, frost still glittered on fence posts and barn roofs.

“That’s the MacCreadie ranch,” Sage said as Dawson’s big truck traveled down the narrow lane. “And over that way is the Douglas ranch. Not sure if you have met McKenna. She’s married to Trey Sheenan. She was raised there.”

“That must be TJ’s mom,” Whitney said. “Daisy talks about them a lot.”

Sage gestured out the window. “And that river is the dividing line between the Sheenan spread and my family’s place.”

Whitney craned her head to get a good look. “Your property butts up against each other?”

“It was an issue growing up. Bill Sheenan and my father did not get along. We were forbidden from playing with the Sheenan boys.”

“Do you all get along now?”

“For the most part. It’s an interesting relationship.”

Dawson slowed as he approached a large handsome log cabin house. Barns and outbuildings flanked the house with more fences and corrals.

“Looks like Eliza and Marshall are already here,” Sage said. “Let’s go introduce you to Callan and Court.”

“Is Callan the one doing all the cooking?” Whitney asked, as Sage pulled a covered casserole and pie from the back of the cab.

Sage laughed. “No. Or we’d be eating frozen waffles for dinner.”

*

Happily the house
didn’t smell like waffles. It smelled like turkey and stuffing and candied sweet potatoes and Whitney’s mouth watered.

“It looks like we still have an hour,” Callan said, after the introductions. “Why don’t we grab our wine glasses and sit down? Whitney, I understand you work for Cormac?”

They ended up in the dining room. The table had already been set and looked lovely with the linen cloth and fine china.

Whitney pulled out a chair and sat down. “I’m part of his executive team with the publishing group.”

“You used to date, didn’t you?”

Whitney blushed. “Yes. But that was years ago.”

“Didn’t that complicate things?” Callan asked.

Whitney grew hotter under Callan’s scrutiny. “Yes, it did.”

Sage took pity on Whitney. “You’re putting her on the spot, Callan.”

Callan shrugged. “If she can handle Cormac, I’m sure a few questions don’t bother her that much.” She looked at Whitney. “Right?”

Whitney gulped a mouthful of wine. “Right.”

“So how does that work when you sue your ex, who also happens to be your boss?”

“
Callan
.” Sage gave her youngest sister a pointed look, which Callan chose to ignore.

“At least, I thought Dillon said you’d sued Cormac in a custody battle over the little girl.” Callan smiled blithely. “But I could have misunderstood. To be honest, I don’t know Cormac very well. He’s the mystery Sheenan. He moved away to attend college in California and rarely came back.”

Sage shook her head reprovingly at her baby sister. “Callan has a vested interest in the Sheenans,” she explained.

Whitney glanced from one to the other. “Because their ranch runs adjacent to yours?”

“No.” Sage looked to her sister for permission. Callan shrugged. “We found out a year ago that Callan, and our sister, Dani, have the same biological father as the Sheenans.”

For a moment Whitney didn’t understand.

Callan pushed a dark strand of hair back from her face, tucking it behind her ear. “Our mom and Bill Sheenan had a long affair,” she said bluntly.

Whitney’s jaw dropped. She stared blankly at Callan, unable to process this. “You’re Cormac’s….”

“Half-sister.” Callan rose. “Anyone else want more wine?”

“Sure,” Whitney mumbled, even though she’d barely touched hers yet.

Talk about a shock.

She was reeling. Cormac’s dad hadn’t just been unfaithful, he’d fathered two girls with a neighbor’s wife?

This wasn’t the sort of revelation she’d expected Thanksgiving weekend but it did give her new insight. No wonder Cormac hadn’t liked coming back to Marietta very often. Growing up, things couldn’t have been all that happy at home.

‡

T
he Christmas Parade
ended at the courthouse with the lighting of the big conifer tree growing in Crawford Park. The tree was as old as the turn-of-the-century courthouse, and looked spectacular covered in big colored lights. Whitney had gone to watch the parade with Eliza and Marshall, viewing it from Crawford Park, but she was finding it hard to feel festive when she kept thinking about the tangled relationships between the Sheenans and Carrigans.

Cormac had never mentioned anything about his father cheating on his mom, but then, that wasn’t the sort of thing that you’d probably want others to know.

She wondered why Callan had shared the information. Had Callan thought it was something Whitney should know?

The crowd began cheering and Whitney saw that Santa was coming, waving to all from his decorated horse-drawn carriage.

Kris looked particularly magnificent today, Whitney thought, waving along with the rest of the crowd. He had a ruddy glow in his cheeks and a sparkle in his bright blue eyes and seemed to be enjoying himself enormously.

Eliza leaned towards Whitney. “He’s a very good Santa, isn’t he?” she said.

“Yes.” Whitney agreed. “I think he’s probably the best one I’ve ever met.”

Still waving to the children ringing the park and streets, Kris stepped from the carriage and headed to the platform that ringed the enormous tree.

The mayor said a few words and then the president of the downtown business association said a few words and then Kris said ho-ho-ho and the tree lights went on and everyone cheered once more. Whitney was clapping, too. It was beautiful.

With the local Girl Scout troop singing carols, kids lined up to say hello to Santa who was still standing in front of the tree, giving out candy canes and hugs.

Whitney was just about to leave with Eliza and Marshall when she spotted Cormac and Daisy in the back of the long line waiting to greet Santa.

Daisy was bouncing on her toes but Cormac looked downright grim. Whitney wondered what was up, and said goodbye to Eliza and Marshall so she could go join Cormac and Daisy.

“Hello,” she said to them, leaning down to hug Daisy. “How was your Thanksgiving? Did you eat lots of turkey?”

Daisy grinned. “No. But I love pumpkin pie.”

“So do I.” As Whitney smiled at her she studied Cormac from the corner of her eyes. He definitely seemed out of sorts about something. “How about you?” she asked him. “Was it a good day?”

“It was fine.”

Even his answer was brusque. “Hmm, not very convincing,” she said. “But I’ll let it slide.”

“Daddy’s a grouch today,” Daisy volunteered. “We were going to go ice skating but there was some problem at work so we didn’t.” Daisy shot Cormac an accusing glance. “But at least we get to see Santa Claus now—” she broke off as she spotted a little girl in line just ahead of them from her preschool class, and they started talking and jumping up and down together chanting “Santa! Santa! Santa!”

Whitney watched Cormac watching Daisy. “Why are you so annoyed?” she whispered to Cormac. “It’s
Santa
.”

He turned his back to Daisy so she couldn’t hear. “It’s not Santa,” he corrected under his breath. “It’s an old dude in a rented suit. And I’m not a fan, okay?”