It's Only Love(64)

“Yep,” she said. “I’ll be over there.” Ella pointed to the shack where her mother and Aunt Hannah were doling out hot chocolate, cider and donuts to families who’d come to tag their Christmas trees. By next weekend, they’d be returning to cut them down and take them home.

“Come on, Gavin,” Landon said. “I’ve got a whole bunch of cutting for you to do.” In addition to the tag-and-cut program, the Stillman Family Christmas Tree Farm supplied trees to retailers all over the state and the rest of New England.

“I love to cut,” Gavin said. Before he let Landon lead him away, he kissed Ella square on the lips in front of her brother, her mother, her aunt and anyone else who might’ve been looking. “Save some hot chocolate for me.”

“Oh, um, I will.”

He smiled at her before he walked away, whistling as he went.

Ella watched him go, her lips tingling from the kiss. In four hours, they could make their escape and return to his place until family dinnertime tomorrow. She couldn’t wait to be alone with him again. Turning to head for the shack that housed the concessions and cash register, Ella found her mother and aunt watching her.

“What?” she asked them.

“You,” Hannah said. “Kissing Gavin Guthrie in public all of a sudden.”

“It’s certainly not all of a sudden.” Ella stepped into the small wooden structure, where the scent of chocolate and cider mixed with the pervasive fragrance of Christmas coming from the thousands of trees on the property. Ella loved it here. She always had.

“Is that right?” Hannah asked.

“Uh-huh,” Ella said.

“You approve of this?” Hannah asked her sister.

“Hardly matters if I do,” Molly said. “Ella is a grown woman who knows her own heart. But for what it’s worth, I think the world of Gavin, just like I thought the world of his brother.”

“He sure is easy on the eyes,” Hannah said, making them all laugh.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Ella said with a dirty wink.

“Oh my ears!” Hannah said, covering them while Ella laughed again. “On that note, I’m outta here since my relief has arrived.” She kissed Ella’s cheek. “I’m happy for you, Ella. I hope it works out for you two.”

“Thank you, Auntie.”

“I’ll talk to you this week,” Hannah said to Molly.

“Yes, you will.”

After Hannah left, Ella rang up a young family that had tagged a tree and bought a wreath, hot chocolate and donuts. The kids, who were maybe five and seven, were bundled up and bursting with Christmas excitement. Thanks to her work at the store and full immersion in the season, Ella had never lost that feeling. Christmas was still her favorite time of year.

It would be even more so this year, with Hunter and Megan’s wedding the weekend before the holiday.

Watching the kids consume their donuts with barely restrained glee filled Ella with yearning for the family she’d nearly given up on having. Last night, Gavin had told her he loved her. In the bright light of day, everything seemed possible now that she knew for sure he felt that way about her. That changed everything.

“You’re fairly glowing today, my dear,” Molly said as she doled out cider to another young couple who were heading off to find their tree.

“I’m happy.”

“It makes me happy to see you happy. You’re in love then?”

“Madly.” What a relief—an overwhelmingly powerful relief—to be able to admit how she felt about Gavin. Finally.

“How does he feel?”

“The same.”

“Oh, El,” Molly said, tearing up. “That’s so wonderful.”

“Yes, it is.” Ella gazed out at the distant fields, where she could see Gavin working beside her brother as they loaded trees onto a flatbed. “It might seem like it happened fast to everyone else, but it didn’t. There was nothing fast about it.”

“I know that, sweetheart. We all do.”

“I guess I wasn’t as circumspect as I thought I was when it came to him.”

“You were in a tough spot, wanting a man who was emotionally unavailable.”

“It was tough. But what we have now . . . It was well worth the wait.”

“So that’s it? All sewn up and together forever?”

“I can’t imagine anything could tear us apart after what we’ve shared this week.”

“Ella—”

Ella held up her hand to stop whatever her mother was about to say. “Please, Mom. Please don’t say it. I’ve been warned every which way to Tuesday by just about everyone who loves me—and that’s a lot of people. I love him. He loves me. I finally have what I’ve always wanted. You know how much I love you, but frankly, I just don’t want to hear any more warnings.”

“Fair enough.”

“Are you mad?”

“No, sweetheart, of course I’m not mad. I actually understand better than you think.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I was dating Dad, I had more than one person warn me about taking on a flatlander, how he’d never be happy here, how someone with his education would want bigger things than a country store in Butler, Vermont. People who barely knew me warned me.”