The Mayweather Christmas Quest Read online

  “You mean in front of any men you might be trying to impress?”

  Olympia rolled her eyes. “That’s not what I said. But…yeah, I suppose.”

  He lifted a hand, let it drop. “OK. I’ll try to look like I’m not interested in you.”

  She looked confused, like she was going to giggle, but wasn’t sure why.

  “Except, I am interested in you,” he clarified. “But, I know this is serious business to you, looking for a husband, so I’ll try not to interfere.”

  Olympia scowled at him.

  “What about him?” David pointed to a rotund man chipping ice at the end of his driveway. “He probably likes to eat well, so I hope you can cook.” A moment later, a woman joined him, spreading rock salt. “Oh, well, too bad, he’s taken.”

  “Stop it,” Olympia said.

  But David had spotted another hopeful, a graying man with unfastened boots walking an old cocker spaniel. “He likes dogs. That’s good, right?” Then, he snapped his fingers. “Ooo, right, you’re a cat person. Let’s see if we can find a cat guy.”

  With a final huff, she started to walk away.

  “No, wait.” He took hold of her arm. “Please don’t go. I’m sorry.”

  ****

  Olympia glared at him.

  “You have to understand this sounds pretty weird to me. To most people,” David said.

  Olympia opened her mouth to rebut, but he was right. “I know how it looks to other people,” she said. “But, this tradition has been in my family as far back as anyone can remember and for some reason it seems to work.” Who was he to question how God worked in the Mayweather family? Last she checked, God was still God and could move in any way He pleased.

  David released her and rested his forearm against the doorjamb of a drug store. “It’s just a little hard to believe in legend. I need facts. Do you have any proof? Some documentation that shows your ancestors met this way? Not just around Christmas, or in the snow, but in a Christmas snow?”

  Olympia faced him fully, folding her arms over her chest. “As a matter of fact, my mother has letters my great grandmother wrote. And my own mother’s word for it.”

  She met his eyes steadily, daring him to refute her mother.

  He pursed his lips, considering. “I’d like to see those letters, if you don’t mind.”

  “Yes, I do mind. You’re just out to make a mockery of my family’s history.”

  “No. I’m not. I’m following a unique story that people will find interesting.”

  Olympia spun on her heel. “I can’t believe you’re even here!”

  David caught up to her after only a few steps, but she yanked her arm out of reach. “Stop touching me! You’re just making everything worse. You and your reporter girlfriend. You’re putting everyone on edge and probably chasing away any potential husbands.”

  Wow, that sounded weird, even to her. He was making her doubt her own family history. And where had that girlfriend thing come from? She couldn’t care less if he had a girlfriend. Though if he did, he shouldn’t have kissed her like that.

  “It could have just the opposite effect,” David said. “More men might come out of the woodwork if there’s a little attention. And some men like the competition.” He shifted his stance. “And if the legend is true, it’s unstoppable. You’ll bag a husband if we’re here or not.”

  “I’m not hunting,” she snapped, and stalked away.

  She knew he was behind her all the way to Lake Place Park, but refused to acknowledge him. When she stopped at a vendor’s for a bag of roasted chestnuts, and he offered to pay, she dug quickly into her wallet and thrust the money at the clerk before David could. Then she stuffed the bag in her oversized coat pocket, no longer hungry.

  This whole situation had gotten way out of hand. She didn’t even know why she was here. When her oldest sister, Aliza, was old enough to think about marriage, the family had laughingly packed up the station wagon and driven to Houlton, Maine, where the snow was predicted to fall that year. And even that had been a joke. Until she’d met her husband.

  Always the romantic, Brinna had followed suit. She’d been so sure of meeting Mr. Right that she’d had Aunt Ruth make her wedding gown the July prior. And meet him she did. Right here in Duluth, in front of the one hundred, twenty foot fake Christmas tree.

  Olympia could see the towering spectacle from here. She imagined herself climbing to the top, swatting away wedding bouquets fired at her from small planes, like Kong right before his tragic death.

  When she let out a perturbed sigh, the warm stream cut a path through the icy air, before becoming one with it. She wasn’t thinking seriously about marriage. Or, hadn’t been, until she’d met David. He was a stranger, so it wasn’t as if she fantasized about walking down the aisle with him, but he was just the type of man she would pick for herself.

  Handsome and smart, with a sense of humor. Though it was often at her expense, she had to admit he was quick. But, her first impression of him had been of a kind man. He was. She might have accused him of being duplicitous, but she knew in her heart he couldn’t be. Not if he tried.

  The pull to turn and meet his eyes was growing stronger with each minute, but she stubbornly held her face to the relentless wind whipping off the water. At this rate, her cheeks and forehead would be frostbitten.

  When she couldn’t take it any longer, she turned, pretending to notice a piece of lint on her shoulder. Head lowered, she covertly scanned the passersby until she found him. Arm in arm with a red-head. Walking away.

  Stunned, and hurt, Olympia sucked in a breath, watching as they disappeared out of the park and out of sight.

  4

  “You ladies care for some breakfast?” David asked when Sharon opened the door at eight-thirty.

  Sharon smiled. “I’m game, but Olympia’s already gone.”

  “Oh. Gone where?”

  “She met a nice young man last night, and he asked her to breakfast.”

  A fiery ball hit him in the pit of his stomach. “She’s out? With a guy?”

  Sharon stepped back inside and grabbed her room key from the counter. “That’s why she came, right?”

  Though her tone was cheerful, something in her eyes gave him pause. “So, was she out late?”

  Sharon shrugged and slipped the key in the back pocket of her khakis. “I have no idea. She phoned to say she was at a movie, but I went to bed pretty early.”

  His mind demanded answers. Were there signs she’d come in at all? Where is this guy from? Is he a local? Just a stranger passing through?

  He pasted on his best fake smile and moved aside to let Sharon out. “Just you and me, then.”

  David spotted Olympia the second he came down the stairs. She was sitting in the dining room looking all fresh and bright. And she wasn’t alone. So, she’d brought him back to the inn for breakfast? That was strange. Unless, he was staying here as well. In which case, they might have been together all night. David’s gut clenched. He wouldn’t believe Olympia could do anything sordid with a man she’d just met, but an all-night date gave plenty of time to learn if one was spouse material.

  He avoided Olympia’s eyes when she spotted him. Sharon waved.

  “Mom, I want you to meet Todd,” she said, when they were all seated.

  Todd? Really?

  David offered his hand to his lanky competition across the table. “David. Friend of the family.”

  Todd took his hand, unmoved by David’s excessive grip.

  “Todd. Good to meet you.”

  Well, he seemed polite enough. David didn’t trust him. Sharon, too, was more standoffish than he’d seen her. Pleasant, but not quite right.

  Mr. Purdy, the innkeeper, greeted them and went back into the kitchen to make some more of those amazing smelling blueberry waffles as they engaged in small talk. After a round of comments about the food and the weather, Olympia leaned toward Todd, though addressed David.

  “Sorry your girlfriend couldn’t join us
,” she said.

  Sharon’s head pivoted to David. “Girlfriend?”

  “Ex,” he corrected, sending a long look to Olympia.

  “Oh. She lives here in town?” Sharon asked.

  David’s eyes narrowed before facing Sharon. “No. She’s here on business.”

  “Ask him what business,” Olympia suggested.

  “Are you sure you want to do that?” David asked, tipping his chin toward Todd.

  He gripped his napkin tighter when she placed a hand over Todd’s on the table.

  “I have no secrets from Todd. He knows why I’m here.” She lifted her chin, daring him to defy her.

  “That’s great,” David said, keeping his voice level. “And he knows where you’re staying. That’s beautiful.”

  “I’m sure by now your ex knows where I’m staying, too.”

  That was it. He couldn’t sit here another second. “Excuse me.” David surged to his feet and left the dining room.

  By the time he went to his room for his coat and then stepped back down into the foyer, the dining room was abandoned. And Sharon was waiting for him, dressed in her coat, scarf and gloves.

  “I’m going for a walk. Care to join me?” she asked.

  He’d been going to walk anyway. Might as well have some company.

  ****

  “Mercy, what a cold morning.”

  David gave Sharon a sidelong glance. “You like that word a lot, huh? Mercy?”

  “One of my favorites,” Sharon answered. “Where would any of us be without God’s mercy?”

  True. It seemed the woman who’d called the paper liked that word too, according to the girl who had taken the message. He walked silently beside her for another half a block and then stopped, causing her to pull up short beside him.

  “Why did you call the paper?”

  Sharon’s mouth flapped open.

  “I know it was you, so don’t bother lying,” David said.

  He’d only just pieced it together this morning, after wracking his brain trying to figure out why a mother would overlook her daughter’s obvious distress in being followed around by a reporter, for the sake of a family legend. Unless she truly believed it herself. Or she was getting something out of it. Since he didn’t take Sharon for a heartless, selfish woman, there had to be more to it.

  When he’d seen her reaction to Todd, it only added to the puzzle. She was no happier than he had been to see that Olympia had met a man, possibly her future mate. Wasn’t that why she was here? Yet, David noticed she seemed in good spirits when he and Olympia were together, even if they were sniping at one another.

  Sharon’s brow furrowed. She sighed. “I want Olympia to find happiness, start her own life. Have a husband, and children. Before I’m not around to see it.”

  A terrible thought dropped into David’s head. He took her coat by the sleeve. “You’re not…something’s not wrong…?”

  It took her a second to catch on; then she laid a hand over his heart. “Oh, no! No, I’m not dying, nothing like that.”

  His relief was swift and genuine. He had become very fond of Sharon Mayweather in their short association. “Then why the rush?”

  She started walking, assuming he would keep pace. He didn’t need to be a reporter to tell something was bothering her.

  “You can trust me, Sharon. I won’t say anything, whatever it is.”

  Her lips tightened in a grim line. She quickened her step and then suddenly stopped. Looking around, she led him across the street toward the park, not speaking until they were seated on a white bench.

  It was probably only twenty-five degrees today, but with the wind skipping off the lake and funneling through the narrow gouge of roadway, it felt more like twenty-five below. Sharon didn’t seem to notice, focused as she was on her imminent confession.

  “I met someone,” she said, looking down at her gloved hands, twisting in her lap.

  “Excuse me?”

  She took a short breath and met his eyes. “I’ve been seeing him for about a year now. He lives in the next town over from us. Olympia doesn’t know.”

  David shifted on the cold wood. He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear this.

  “At first I thought it was too soon to date, you know, with my husband being gone only a few years. But, there’s something about Bill. He’s so patient, and considerate, and we have so many of the same interests,” she said, reaching over to squeeze David’s hand. “I started to come alive again. And…I fell in love.”

  He smiled. “Is that all?”

  But, Sharon didn’t smile. She reunited her hand with its mate to wring nervously in her lap once more. “I don’t want Olympia to be upset. She’s fiercely loyal.”

  David patted her hand. “Come on, she’ll understand that her father is gone and you have to move on. It’s not as if she’s a child and you’re asking her to accept a stepdad.”

  But, Sharon was already shaking her head. “I’m not worried about her accepting him. It’s about her letting me go. She’s so protective of me, and that’s not just since her father died. I think she’s always seen me as a soft, vulnerable feather-head that she has to keep shielded from the world.”

  “I’m sure she doesn’t think of you as a feather-head,” David said.

  “The truth is, she’s the one who’s vulnerable. She puts up that strong exterior, but…. I don’t know how she’ll react if I tell her about Bill and the plans we have. I don’t want to leave her alone, unfulfilled….”

  She giggled. “So, I phoned the paper. I hoped to get some exposure, you know, increase the odds of her finding someone.”

  “Isn’t that cheating?”

  “That’s wisdom,” she argued. “Anyway, that’s just a safety net in case my first plan fell through.”

  “Your first plan,” he repeated.

  “I asked for you specifically.”

  His brows arched.

  “Turns out I know your Aunt Lorraine,” she said. “We’ve been friends for years, but not the talk about everything in our lives every time we see each other kind, more the, hey, let’s get together for bingo and a movie kind. One night we went to the diner and walked past the newspaper rack, and there you were. Someone had read the paper already and folded it out instead of in—you should be on the front page, by the way.”

  She smiled, calling forth the dimples on either side of her mouth. Olympia had them too.

  “Mercy, Lorraine just gushed over your photo, told me all about you and how proud she is of you, though she doesn’t see you nearly as much as she’d like. She told me how you were nursing a broken heart after finding out your fiancé didn’t want children. You were right to break it off with her.”

  “She told you all that, huh?”

  “And the way she described you—intelligent, sweet, real father material. And while she was talking, bells were going off. It just seemed right, you know? I figured if you met Olympia …put you right under her nose…. It all came together in my head and made perfect sense.”

  “Your sinister plan?”

  Now she frowned. “It didn’t seem sinister at the time. I thought the worst that could happen was if you didn’t hit it off, no harm done. But, when I met you and saw you were just as Lorraine described, I knew you’d be perfect with my daughter. And I see how you look at her.”

  David cleared his throat.

  “But, now I can see my plan might be affecting you both in a negative way. And if your fiancé’s in town and you’re thinking of getting back together—”

  “No. Definitely not. She’s a reporter, and she’s been looking for you. She found me yesterday and I led her away before she could find your daughter and badger her. Apparently, Olympia thinks…. It doesn’t matter.”

  His shoulders slumped. How had he gotten into this drama?

  “You care for her.”

  Sharon’s smile told him she meant Olympia. He couldn’t deny it.

  “Anyway, I’m back to wondering if I’m just being selfish,”
Sharon told him.

  David shook his head. “You’re not being selfish for wanting to be happy. You can’t just give up Bill and—”

  “Give up?” she interrupted. “Who said anything about giving Bill up? I’m in love. I’m keeping him. He wants to get married.” Her spine stiffened and she turned her face into the wind. “I’m going to tell Olympia the truth.”

  “Then what?”

  Tears filled her eyes. “That’s the thing. I don’t want to leave her alone. I don’t want her to feel I’ve abandoned her.”

  “Hey, it’s the next town, right?”

  Sharon shook her head. “One of the things he and I have in common is archeology.”

  “Really?” Interesting.

  “Yes. It was my major in college. Then I met my husband.”

  “And everything was put on hold,” he finished for her.

  “Bill is going on a dig in Queensland in February. He’s asked me to go. To move there. Permanently. It’s where his family is from.”

  He couldn’t help wondering if once again she was giving something up for a man, but kept his mouth shut. She’d obviously given this more thought than he had.

  “And we’ll visit at least once a year, at Christmastime, of course.”

  They sat in companionable silence, taking in the scenery, he sifting the details of the conversation through his brain. He’d seen firsthand how protective Olympia could be with her mother. No doubt she would question Bill’s intentions. But, he couldn’t see her putting her own happiness ahead of Sharon’s. Still….

  “Don’t tell her.”

  Sharon turned to David. “What?”

  “Don’t tell Olympia about your plans yet.”

  Sharon moved to speak but David stood, pulling her to her feet. “If you tell her, she’ll just assume I knew about it from the start and my motives…how I feel…. Let’s let this Christmas quest play out. It’s only one more day. Anything can happen.”

  Sharon’s face relaxed, her reluctance fading to relief.

  “But, I need a favor,” he said.

  “Anything.”

  She tucked her arm through his and they half walked, half jogged out of the park.