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  He pointed to the half-finished house. “So I came here and bought this land. I’ve been working on the house for a while now and living in the trailer. I could have been finished, only I kept hoping you would eventually come back so we could finish it together. I want you to be happy in this house, because I built it for you.”

  She stared at him, holding Calvin and letting Shep’s love surround her.

  “I’m showing you I love you,” he continued. “In the only way I know how. By putting down roots. I have my job with HERO and I’m teaching part-time at the community college. I have friends here. I’m hoping I have you here, too. I love you, Nancee, and I want to marry you. I want to spend the rest of my life showing you how much you mean to me.” He smiled and stroked Calvin. “We’ll be a family. The three of us.”

  She set her cat on the floor of the truck, then undid her seat belt so she could lean toward Shep.

  “I love you, too,” she said as he took her in his arms. “I can’t believe you’re building a house.”

  “I can’t believe you were going to live in a trailer.”

  She was going to say she would do anything for him, but then he was kissing her and speaking seemed highly overrated.

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHRISTMAS MORNING, NANCEE stood in her great-aunt’s bedroom while Gladys carefully buttoned up the dress Nancee had bought two days ago at Paper Moon. It was a sample, but it fit her perfectly and luckily hadn’t needed many alterations. She wore the sapphire earrings her mother had left her along with a veil borrowed from Gladys’s best friend, Eddie.

  The old, new, borrowed, blue items taken care of, she waited for Gladys to finish with the buttons before turning to hug her.

  “You’re so good to me,” she said. “You gave me a place to stay, then nudged me when I needed it. I love you.”

  Gladys hugged her back. “I love you, too, child. How could I not? As for giving you a nudge, you would have found your way. It might have taken a little longer, but you would have gotten there.”

  Calvin wandered into the bedroom. Gladys swooped him up and held him close. “No you don’t, young man. No cat hair on the dress.” She kissed him and set him on the bed, then smiled at Nancee. “Are you ready?”

  Nancee picked up her bouquet along with the simple gold band she would give to Shep.

  “I am.”

  “I need two minutes to get the music going,” she said. “Then you can come out.”

  Her great-aunt hurried down the hall. Nancee stayed where she was until she heard the familiar wedding march. The fact that it was being played over the old stereo only made it more special.

  She started down the hall. Anticipation quickened her step. She turned the corner and entered the living room, only to stop in surprise.

  She’d expected to see Shep and Gladys, along with Mayor Marsha, who had graciously agreed to take a half hour out of her Christmas to marry them. But there were other people there, as well. Madeline and Jonny, Kipling and his wife. The women she’d met at the lunch with their husbands and children. The living room was filled to capacity. All the guests smiled at her, as if to welcome her. Nancee smiled back before turning to see Shep standing by Mayor Marsha and the Christmas tree.

  He wore a dark suit. She tried to remember if she’d ever seen him in one before and didn’t think she had. He was so handsome, he made her heart hurt. Or maybe that was the love filling her. Love for this wonderful man who had decided to show her how much he cared.

  She walked toward him, knowing that whatever happened, they would be together always. When she reached him, she handed Gladys her bouquet, then faced him. He took her hands in his.

  “Still want to marry me?” he asked with a smile.

  “You know it.”

  He kissed her knuckles, then turned to the mayor. “We’re ready.”

  “I can see that,” she told them before looking at the people who had come to witness the happy event. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered together in the sight of God and this company to join Nancee and Shep in holy matrimony.”

  Calvin walked up to Nancee and meowed. Everyone laughed.

  “I think he’s giving his blessing,” Mayor Marsha said.

  “I know he is.” Nancee patted him, then turned back to Shep. She squeezed his hands, and he winked at her. Funny how everything had turned out so perfectly, she thought happily. It was her very own Christmas wedding miracle. And here she was, marrying the man of her Christmas dreams.

  * * * * *

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  Before We Kiss

  When We Met

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  Two of a Kind

  Just One Kiss

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  ISBN-13: 9781460317785

  A Kiss in the Snow

  Copyright © 2016 by Susan Mallery, Inc.

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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