Reunited at Christmas Read online

  “We do have a few. Let’s go meet Rita.” Honor led them toward an area where four dogs were in an enclosure. Three of them were running around and playing with each other while the fourth one was peacefully lying on a mat. Once they entered the enclosure all the dogs came running toward them. Ruby found herself being greeted enthusiastically by a black-and-white terrier who was missing a leg. His name tag read Diego in big letters. Ruby placed her arms around him and hugged him. The sound of Aidan’s hearty chuckle rang out as Diego began licking her face.

  Ruby felt the heat of Liam’s gaze as he watched her bond with the dog.

  How could she ever have forgotten how good it felt to be around dogs?

  “Rita is about to have a litter of babies,” Honor explained, moving toward the golden retriever reclining on the mat. “Any day now.”

  “Like Aunt Gracie?” Aidan asked, his brown eyes wide. He began patting Rita on the head.

  Honor, Liam and Ruby burst out laughing. Out of the mouths of babes.

  “Sort of, but not really. Rita is going to have several at one time and we’re going to have to find homes for them,” Honor explained. “Grace is expecting only one, unless they’re holding out on us.”

  “Can we take one of the puppies, Dad? Pretty please with sugar on top.” Aidan held his hands in front of him, crossing them in prayerful fashion.

  Liam’s expression was conflicted. “I don’t know, Aidan. We have a lot going on at the moment and puppies are a lot of work.”

  “Please,” he begged, shifting his eyes toward Ruby. “I’ll feed him and walk him and teach him a bunch of tricks.”

  Liam turned toward her. He knit his brows together. “What do you think?”

  Personally, she would love to own another dog, but Ruby wasn’t sure she should even weigh in on it. So much about the future was uncertain. Would she be remaining in Love? If she and Liam couldn’t even agree on her career, how would their marriage survive the challenge of her amnesia?

  And there was still so much tension lingering between them from yesterday.

  “I think it’s something we should talk about at greater length,” she said in a halting voice. She looked down at Aidan. Her heart sank as she recognized the signs of his vast disappointment. His lower lip trembled while his shoulders sagged. She bent over and tipped up his chin, so she could look him in the eye. Tears shimmered in his warm brown eyes.

  “I know that’s not what you want to hear,” she said in a soft voice, “but bringing a pet into the home is serious business. Do you know that a lot of people make impulsive decisions to bring dogs home and then it doesn’t work out? This isn’t a no, it’s simply a let’s wait and see.”

  “I think that makes a lot of sense,” Liam said with a nod.

  “Why don’t we head back to the main house for hot chocolate?” Honor suggested. Aidan’s mood turned on a dime. Ruby sent her a grateful look for diverting her son’s attention away from Rita and her soon-to-be brood.

  Ruby was certain that Aidan’s shouts of glee could be heard all the way back in town. As she walked hand in hand with Aidan as they journeyed back across the property, Ruby felt lighter and more joyful than she had in ages. The beauty of this day hadn’t allowed her to dwell on the tension between her and Liam. It seemed that both of them had tried to put it aside so they could enjoy the Wildlife Center as a family.

  Each day was bringing something new and wonderful her way. She just needed to look closely enough to see it. And to embrace the little boy who had swiftly stolen her heart.

  Thank You, Lord. For gifting us with this wondrous day.

  Chapter Ten

  Later on that evening, Ruby stood at the sink washing dinner dishes. Her back was turned to Liam. He silently admired the graceful slope of her neck and the tiny little curls that had escaped her bun. She was radiant, even in all her simplicity. Her jeans and plaid-flannel T-shirt did nothing to diminish it. If anything, it only served to highlight it.

  Liam still hadn’t broached the subject of their disagreement from yesterday. Even though things had thawed between them this afternoon, the situation didn’t rest easy on his heart. God had given him the tremendous gift of bringing Ruby back into his life and now he was squandering it.

  He’d given it a lot of thought this afternoon. He could have handled the situation better, yet he’d lost control of his emotions and alienated Ruby in the process. Something had to give. They couldn’t continue living under the same roof and walking on eggshells all the time.

  Liam moved toward the kitchen counter. He stood close to her so that their arms were slightly touching. Her nearness caused a yearning he had stuffed down inside him for ages. The smell of lavender drifted toward him, causing him to take a good whiff of her light perfume. It was torture to be so close to his beautiful wife and not take her in his arms. So far he had reined himself in, but he didn’t know how long he could continue to do so.

  “Nice day out at the Wildlife Center,” he remarked in a casual tone.

  She nodded without looking at him. “Yes, it was.”

  “Don’t you think we should talk?” Liam slightly raised his voice over the sound of the water from the sink.

  “About what?” Ruby asked without turning around or shutting off the water. She continued to scrub the dishes.

  “You’re still angry with me. I get that. But we have to extend each other an olive branch. Sooner or later Aidan will pick up on the tension between us.”

  Ruby snapped her head in his direction. “That’s a cheap shot, throwing Aidan into the situation.”

  “It happens to be the truth,” he said in a curt voice. “Don’t be so prickly about everything just because you’re upset with me.”

  Ruby bristled. “I don’t like being angry. It doesn’t sit well with me.”

  “I don’t like seeing you this way, either,” he admitted. “It’s not your way.”

  She turned off the water and wiped her hands on a dish towel. “I’m not backing down from my stance,” she said. Her expression showed a fierceness he hadn’t seen since she had returned. It was classic Ruby.

  “Neither am I,” he replied. “I’ve always done what’s best for our family. You may have been the professional at saving lives, but I’ve always served and protected our family.”

  She folded her arms across her chest. “We can agree to disagree. Life’s too short to harbor grudges or carry around negative energy.”

  “I agree. I know what it feels like to have the bottom fall out of my world in an instant. It feels silly to waste time being angry at each other.”

  “Ditto,” she said.

  She bowed her head. “But I’m still bent out of shape about the way you acted the other day. Not only toward me, but your father, as well.”

  His father? There wasn’t time enough in the world for him to explain all the nuances of their fractured relationship. As a result, he looked like the bad guy in the situation.

  “I’ve always regarded myself as your protector. Old habits die hard.”

  “Being protective is one thing, but bossing me around is another. Something tells me you didn’t get away with that before the accident. Am I right?”

  “You always gave as good as you got,” he admitted. “You’ve never been the backing down type.” They both laughed, which managed to ease the lingering tension a little bit.

  “That’s good to know,” Ruby said.

  “I’m sorry about what I said about you leaving Aidan motherless. It wasn’t right.” Just remembering his dig made his skin crawl. There had been some truth in his statement, but he’d known it would hurt Ruby to utter those words. That alone made him feel ashamed.

  “Apology accepted,” she said with a nod. “I would never willingly hurt Aidan. And I have to live with the fact that the repercussions of my career
choices left him motherless for a time.” She quirked her mouth. “Honestly, I didn’t really need the reminder.”

  “Losing you in a rescue mission...that was always my worst fear. Then it happened. And just the thought of what might happen if you go back to search and rescue makes me crazy.” He shuddered. “It plays on all those fears and the nightmare we’ve already lived through.”

  Ruby nodded. “I get where you’re coming from, but it still isn’t something you can lecture me against doing. That’s not going to fly with me.”

  Although Liam liked the way Ruby was standing up for herself in true Ruby fashion, he hated that she was sticking to her guns about the possibility of returning to her career. As far as he was concerned, it was a no-brainer. Hadn’t they decided Aidan’s needs came first? Why tempt fate? They had already been put through the ringer because of her job.

  Rather than stir up the hornet’s nest any further, he needed to get a few things off his chest about his father. The topic of Gareth Prescott was one he usually avoided like the plague. But he needed Ruby to know where he was coming from so she didn’t write him off as a jerk.

  “With regard to my father, the friction between us goes back a long time. Whether you realize it or not, he came here with an agenda, Ruby. And that is galling to me, considering he was MIA for the past two years. Not once did he ever call to check in on us. Not an email or a text or a letter. Not even a smoke signal.” He let out a harsh laugh. “And when Jasper had a heart attack, it barely registered with him.”

  “I’m sorry, Liam. That sounds awful. Has it always been like this?” Ruby asked, her expression radiating compassion.

  “Pretty much,” Liam admitted. Even though he had convinced himself over the years it no longer hurt, the piercing sensation near his stomach proved otherwise. Even as an adult, Gareth Prescott still managed to tie him up in knots.

  “When my parents divorced, neither one of them put their children first. Jasper became our surrogate parent and he did right by us. When Boone became an adult, he took all of us under his wing. He helped me foot the bill for medical school. He played the role of surrogate father. Neither of my parents were the warm and fuzzy type. And the truth is, they have both kept a far distance from us. It hasn’t been easy for any of us, but Honor had it the worst since she’s the youngest.”

  “I’m sorry,” Ruby whispered. “It’s unfathomable to me that parents would act like that.”

  “It is what it is,” Liam said with a sigh. “All the Prescott siblings have had to come to terms with it the best we can. I think when they divorced they both decided they wanted to be footloose and fancy free. No real attachments or responsibilities.”

  “For the life of me I can’t imagine that,” Ruby murmured.

  “When we got married I stressed the part about sticking it out because I came from the opposite of that. More than anything, I believe in honoring the commitments we make in this life...to each other and Aidan and our faith.” In a strange way Liam felt as if he had just laid his heart down on the table for Ruby to dissect. He had told her in a nutshell his belief system and what mattered to him most of all. As a man who tended to go inward, it was a huge deal for him.

  “Thank you for telling me about Gareth. I see why it was so tense the day he was here. I can’t blame you for questioning his showing up here unannounced after he’d pretty much bailed out of your life.”

  “I appreciate your listening. As the saying goes, we can’t pick our parents. On the flip side, it made me want to be everything I could be in Aidan’s world because I never had it.”

  “And you are,” Ruby said with a smile. “Watching the two of you together is such a joyful experience. You’ve done such a great job raising him.”

  “Being his father has been such a gift,” Liam said, his voice breaking a little. When God had blessed him with the gift of fatherhood, it had been the greatest day of his life. He had never taken the responsibility lightly. And he never would.

  Ruby bit her lip and ducked her head. She seemed to be having a moment of shyness. “I know things have been tense between us, but I wanted you to know that I had some flashes of you, in addition to the ones involving Rufus. Something opened up in me that day when Gareth visited. I remember the two of us being on a mountain and sledding down a hill. You were laughing and teasing me. You threw a snowball at me and it hit me right on the nose.”

  Raw emotion rose inside Liam. He remembered that day, as well. It had been one of the best days of his life. “We were out at Deer Lake. That afternoon you told me that you were expecting Aidan.” He let out a ragged sigh. “Not many things in this life can ever compare to that moment.”

  “We were happy, weren’t we?” she asked.

  “Yes, we were, Ruby. I’d never call us perfect, but we sure had a great life. We laughed and we loved and we worked hard to build a life for ourselves.”

  And it had been truly wonderful. He wasn’t exaggerating. They had been best friends. Co-parents. Two people who had been committed to living out their lives together with their son. Difficult times had come, but he’d never thought for a single moment those times had defined them.

  A hint of a smile played around her lips. She twirled a strand of her hair around her finger. “That feels reassuring to me to hear you say that. It fills in the gaps.”

  “I’m going to call Honor and see if she can watch Aidan tomorrow night.” Liam threw the comment out casually.

  She frowned at him. “Why do you need a sitter?”

  The idea had been percolating for a while now, but he knew this would be the perfect time to put his plan in motion. So far he hadn’t been able to spend much quality time around Ruby without Aidan being present. And although he loved his son dearly, he wanted “alone time” with his wife. They needed it.

  “Because I want to take you out on a date tomorrow night, Ruby. A good, old-fashioned date. How do you feel about that?”

  * * *

  A date with her husband? After all the tension between them, it was the last thing she had expected to hear Liam say. How did she feel about it? Excited. Nervous. It was thrilling. But she wanted to try to keep her cool and not act too giddy about it.

  “That sounds nice,” she had answered with a smile.

  “Good. Tomorrow night at seven o’clock. Dinner.”

  Now, almost twenty-four hours later, she was doing her very best to make herself look date-worthy. With Liam’s help, she had moved a lot of her personal items, including clothes, into the guest bedroom, so she was able to look through her wardrobe for an outfit to wear.

  After narrowing her choice to three outfits, she settled on a burgundy wool dress that was flattering to her figure and stylish. She experimented with her hair, using the curling iron to create long, loose waves. Dangling earrings gave the ensemble a little pizazz. Having never mastered the art of makeup in the last two years, Ruby decided to stick with a mauve shade of lipstick and some mascara. She studied herself with a critical eye.

  Yes, indeed. She sure cleaned up well. Hopefully, Liam would agree.

  She smoothed her hand over her stomach. Butterflies were flip-flopping around inside, a direct result of her sudden case of jitters. This date was everything to her. It was an opportunity to test the waters with Liam, to see if these feelings brewing between them could serve as a foundation for the future. To know whether there was truly a place for her in this wonderful Alaskan community.

  There was no need to be a bundle of nerves. This was Liam. She knew him. He wasn’t just some stranger who had popped up in her life. She had strong, joyful memories of him. Each day more moments from the past were coming back to her.

  And even if she hadn’t recovered a few memories of her husband, he’d showed her in the here and now that he was a wonderful, kindhearted man. A giving man. Wasn’t that the most important thing of all?


  A few times she had answered the landline and spoken to patients seeking out Dr. Liam Prescott. Ruby didn’t know of any doctors who regularly gave out their home phone number for emergencies. Each and every time, Liam had taken the call and spoken to the caller with compassion and warmth.

  It was starting to feel like she had a crush on her own husband.

  The sound of the doorbell ringing intruded upon her thoughts. A quick glance at her watch showed it was almost seven o’clock. When the pealing of the bell continued, she left the guest room and headed toward the front door. Who could it be? Honor was already inside, eating macaroni and cheese in the kitchen with Aidan. It was a little bit odd that Aidan hadn’t run to the door to open it. More times than not, that’s what he did.

  Ruby swung the door open, letting out a squeak when Liam’s tall frame filled the doorway.

  “Good evening,” he drawled, handing her a bouquet of white roses, baby’s breath and red carnations. He was dressed in a dark jacket paired with a white shirt and a tan pair of slacks. He looked simply divine. She discreetly sniffed the air around them. He smelled pine-fresh like the great outdoors.

  “Aren’t you going to invite me in?” he asked, his lips twitching with merriment.

  “Seriously?” she blurted. He was standing there looking handsome and swoon-worthy and capable of completely sweeping her off her feet.

  He grinned, showcasing his perfect set of pearly whites. “Yes, seriously. This is a first-date move. Since you can’t remember our real first date, I figured we should make this the first one. As I recall, I showed up at your apartment and rang your bell, presented you with flowers and took you out on the town.”

  If she hadn’t already had a major-league crush on Liam, this would have pushed her straight over the edge. She ushered him in, firmly closing the door behind him. When she turned back to him, he was standing mere inches from her, staring her down with his magnetic blue eyes.

  “You look amazing.” Liam’s eyes were full of appreciation as he looked her up and down, his gaze lingering a few beats too long. Something hummed and buzzed in the air—an awareness that felt palpable.