A Very Married Christmas: A Silver Bell Falls Holiday Novella(23)

And then he noticed the nervous look between Melanie and her dad.

Slowly, he straightened. “Why would he think that?” First he looked at Melanie and then John. And that’s when it hit him—John was good friends with Dr. Bailey. They played poker together on Friday nights. Dammit!

“Josiah, there’s no harm in taking it easy for a little longer,” Melanie began cautiously. “We have so much to do and I don’t think we could have accomplished so much if you weren’t here to help me.”

“Did you ask Dr. Bailey to stall my return to work?” he asked her, point blank.

“Josiah…”

“Did you?” he demanded, coming to his feet.

“It wasn’t like that,” she said defensively and was about to say more, but John jumped up and came to her defense.

“This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, Josiah,” John began. “Think about it. When you return to work after the new year, you can be completely focused on your job. Right now, there are too many things that are a distraction. Isn’t it better to just wait? What’s a few more weeks?”

As much as he wanted to hear what else Melanie had to say, he turned to John. “There’s no reason for me to be sitting around, John! I have a job to do! One that I take seriously and instead of letting me get back to it like I need to, apparently I have people second-guessing me and going behind my back! And it’s not for my own good, but for theirs!” His voice rose with every word he spoke and both father and daughter winced at his tone.

“Now wait a minute,” John said but Melanie cut him off.

“Dad? I think you should go. Josiah and I need to talk,” she said, her eyes never leaving Josiah’s.

“I don’t think…”

“It’s okay,” she said. “Really. This is between the two of us.”

At first, Josiah didn’t think John would go, but ultimately he did. But he gave Josiah a warning glare as he made his way to the door.

Neither spoke for a solid minute after the door closed, but soon Josiah couldn’t take the silence any longer. “What the hell were you thinking?” he yelled. “You know how much my job means to me! And I have never—not once—ever interfered with your work! How could you do this to me?”

“I’m just looking out for you!” she argued. “I know you’re anxious to go back to work and I’m just not sure you’re being honest with yourself about how good you feel! I think you could very well be telling yourself you’re fine even if you’re not just to get back down to the station!”

“Why would I do that to myself? Believe me, I wouldn’t try to go back to work if I wasn’t ready for it, Mel!”

She let out a huff of frustration. “Yes, you would! You were trying to go back to work three days after you got shot! Shot!” she cried for emphasis.

“Okay, fine. That wasn’t the smartest thing for me to do, but in my defense, I still believe I can sit at my desk just as safely as I can sit here on my own couch!”

Pacing, Melanie looked ready to pull her hair out. “Yes, but here on your own couch you won’t be tempted to run out if there’s a robbery in progress or…or…someone speeds through town or…or…or to chase down a suspected murderer!” Her voice was trembling and when she looked at him, tears were streaming down her face and that’s when he realized what this was all about.

She was scared.

And as much as he wanted to be angry—wanted to argue his case—he couldn’t.

He whispered her name as he walked over and wrapped her in his arms. Weeping openly, Melanie shook her head against his chest.

“I was so scared,” she sobbed. “Never in my life have I ever been so scared. Please don’t make me go through that again. Please.”

All he could do was hold her close and wonder how they were supposed to move on from this.





Chapter Nine



With three days to go until the wedding, things still hadn’t righted themselves.

To the casual observer, everyone was happy, everyone was in love and everyone was counting down the days until the wedding. They’d gone to the annual Christmas parade and walked around hand in hand and talked to just about everyone in town. Afterwards, they strolled around the craft fair and bought a ton of stuff to support some of their favorite vendors.

Only Melanie and Josiah knew that right now it was simply a distraction for the emotional storm Josiah’s accident had unleashed. She had cried until she didn’t have any tears left and through it all, Josiah had held her. But at the end of the day, she knew he was going to have to go back to work eventually. Her talking to Dr. Bailey had only been a temporary fix.

It was one week until the wedding. Looking around the house, she still couldn’t believe it. Not only were they decorated for Christmas, but all around them were wedding gifts friends and family who couldn’t make the wedding had sent to them. Outside, snow was falling and everything was peaceful.

In a matter of days, they would be married and the day after Christmas they were leaving for their honeymoon. It had long since been a desire for the both of them to go someplace tropical, but with the short notice and the holidays, it had been hard to find the perfect place to go. So they were going to Key West for a week. It wasn’t Hawaii, but at least it was going to be warm.