Read Married for Christmas (Willow Park) for Free Online Page A

and reorganizing the bouquets that were already in perfect
order, since Jessica had laid them out herself. “Everyone was so surprised.”
    “Well, we were kind of surprised ourselves,” Jessica said
casually. “It just sort of happened.”
    “After poor Lila, we weren’t sure he would ever move
on. She was such a sweet, pretty thing—with the most angelic spirit. And you’re
just so different. We never would have guessed.”
    Jessica let out a breath and refused to let such comments
bother her. She could well imagine the gossip prompted by her engagement to
Daniel. She could hear the conversations about how no one could believe Daniel
would choose plain old Jessica Cameron, after he’d had the sweetest, most
beautiful wife a man could want.
    Gossip was inevitable in a small town. It was inevitable in
a church—just as in any other place where people gathered. They didn’t know the
whole story, so they would put the pieces together as best they could.
    Daniel hadn’t chosen her because she was beautiful, sweet,
desirable, or even good wife-material.
    He’d chosen her because she was convenient and he liked her.
    And that was okay. This was still what she wanted. She
couldn’t have everything, but she could have a lot.
    A knock on the door distracted her from her mental pep rally.
    Kim went to answer, and she squealed when she opened the
door a few inches. “Hey! Get out of here!”
    Jessica instinctively stepped toward the door. “Is it
Daniel?”
    “No, it’s Micah.”
    Kim said through the crack in the door, “Whatever you want
can wait until after the—”
    Daniel’s brother was friendly and laidback, always with an
edge of laughter in his voice. “I’ve got something to give her. As long as
she’s decent, I don’t know why I can’t—”
    “He can come in,” Jessica interrupted. “What does it
matter?”
    Kim and Martha reluctantly stood aside to let him enter.
Micah was good-looking, about Daniel’s height but with darker hair and blue
eyes. He looked particularly handsome dressed in formal attire. He was just a
few months older than her, but he’d always been popular in school, which she
never was, so they’d never really been friends growing up. Unlike Daniel, he
hadn’t dropped by their house very often.
    “You look great,” he said, looking slightly surprised.
    “Thanks.” She couldn’t quite keep the irony from her tone.
“So do you. What did you have to give me?”
    He held a small box that must be for her.
    “Can we have a minute?” he asked, glancing over at Kim and
Martha, and then over at her mom.
    It was quite clear from the other women’s faces that they
thought Daniel had made some sort of romantic gesture with this gift. Jessica
wasn’t a bit deceived on this matter, but she was still touched that he’d
thought about doing something nice for her.
    Jessica gestured to Kim, who helped her mother out, and
Martha vacated the room too, still grumbling about how this wasn’t done. It
just wasn’t done.
    “So what’s going on?” Jessica asked, when she and Micah were
left in the room alone.
    “He wanted you to have this.”
    She reached to take the little red box and carefully lifted
the lid. Inside was a delicate gold chain from which hung a small charm. In the
gold was engraved the image of a dog—one that looked a lot like Bear.
    She burst into laughter , the pressure of emotion filling
her chest. “Where on earth did he find this?”
    “He couldn’t find one he liked, so he had it custom-made.”
    She swallowed a sharp breath and lifted the necklace with careful
fingers, as if it might break. “That was so sweet of him.”
    “Can I tell him you think he’s sweet ?” Micah asked, a
characteristic teasing note in his voice. “He’d just love to hear that.”
    “No. Just tell him thank you.” She clasped the chain and
settled the charm at her throat. Then she suddenly felt thoughtless and
selfish, since she didn’t have a thing for Daniel.
    When Micah