Christmas Star Sapphire (Inspirational Romance): A Second Generation Jewel Series Novella (The Jewel Series Book 6) Page 9

  “Look!” She exclaimed. “Snow!” She rushed to the patio doors and slid them open, stepping outside into the night.

  “Aren’t you from Boston?” Joe asked, following her outside.

  She lifted her face and felt the cold flakes as they hit her skin. “We have spent every Christmas of my life in Florida. I’ve never had a white Christmas before.”

  His arm snaked around her and he kissed her lips. Against the cold air, his lips were warm. She stepped closer to him and felt his arms come around her while her head spun as he deepened the kiss.

  She thought she might never want him to stop. She felt like she could stand like this, in the falling snow, and kiss him forever. Until her stocking clad feet and lack of a coat made her shiver. He broke the kiss and smiled down at her. “Merry Christmas, then, beautiful. I’m glad your first white Christmas is with me.”

  They went back inside and she grabbed the smallest package from under the tree with glee. “This one first.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “I only have one for you.”

  With a smile, she said, “Perfect. We’ll take turns. You go first, then me, then you.”

  Sighing, he carefully untaped the paper and revealed a leather-bound journal. Imprinted on the front was a sailboat on the stormy seas. Stamped under the boat was the verse: He calms the storm so that its waves are still. – Psalm 107:29.

  Joe ran a finger over the indentation in the leather. “This is beautiful.”

  “I’m so happy you like it.”

  He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a long, thin box with a red ribbon tied around it. Excited, she slipped the ribbon off and opened the box. Nestled in velvet lay a thin gold chained necklace with a star sapphire suspended in a spiral of gold and diamonds. The deep blue of the stone created the perfect backdrop for the bright white starburst exploding from the center.

  “Oh, Joe,” she whispered, feeling her hands tremble slightly as she removed it from its nest and held it up to inspect it. “It is so beautiful.”

  “Pale in comparison to you,” he said in a husky voice.

  She felt her cheeks heat. She lifted her gift from the box and fastened the chain around her neck, surprised her fingers could work the delicate clasp. He looked at the stone that fell just below her collarbone and back at her. “It looks as perfect as I imagined it would,” he said.

  “Thank you,” she whispered. Fingering the setting of the stone, she got up and grabbed his other present. “Now you again.”

  He opened the bag and withdrew the brass sailboat figure. He read the Bible verse etched in the sail out loud. “In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:6.”

  He had such a harsh look on his face that she reached over and touched his knee. “I know that’s two sailboat presents. I promise for Valentine's Day no boats.”

  When he looked at her, she gasped at the intensity of the look in his eyes. “Joe?”

  He cleared his throat and looked at the sail again. When he looked up, the look was gone. “This is incredible, and exactly the word I needed right now, thank you.”

  AN hour later, the wrappings cleared away, Madeline sat nestled in the crook of Joe’s arm, grasping the star sapphire setting and running it up and down the length of the chain.

  “Is it hard to be in Providence?” she asked.

  “I never really lived here after age twelve. Never really saw much of the city. We were rather isolated out on the estate.” He propped his feet up on the coffee table and closed his eyes. He’d shed his jacket and shoes and loosened his tie earlier.

  “What are you going to do?”

  He opened one eye, clearly understanding what she asked. “I have no idea. Sell my shares to my uncles, maybe. Hold something back for my sister?” She paused her playing with her necklace, her fingers stilled, almost holding her breath while she waited for his answer. “I don’t want to run the company.”

  This attitude didn’t make any sense to her. From the time she could sit up, she’d been in her father’s office. She couldn’t think of a time she hadn’t desperately wanted to run Viscolli Enterprises. When her brother announced to the family that he truly wasn’t interested, Madeline couldn’t have been happier.

  “What would you want to do if your father was removed from the equation?”

  “He’s as removed as he can be.” Joe pulled his feet down and sat up, causing her to have to straighten. They no longer touched. “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying that you worked with an attorney today to handle the welfare and future of your little sister, negotiating with millions of dollars that were at your disposal.” He started to speak, but she held up her hand. “And you did it with the grace and wisdom of a man born to do it. You have a gift for business and numbers, Joe. I think you need to –”

  He cut her off. “I really appreciate you coming today.” Pushing himself to his feet, he grabbed his jacket and slipped his arms into the sleeves. “Having you there by my side made it so much easier to handle.”

  She sighed and rubbed her eyes. “I’m so glad. It took great effort and expense to get to you. Thankfully, I had those resources and was able to accomplish it.” Madeline stood too, feeling irritated but unable to put her finger on why.

  Joe narrowed his eyes. “What does that mean?”

  She lifted her chin. “That means that I’m Madeline Viscolli, daughter of Antonio Viscolli. I’ve been training to take over Viscolli Enterprises since I was a little girl, and I have every intention of doing so.”

  He clenched his jaw as he slipped his feet into the leather loafers he’d worn that day. “You know, I tried to have this conversation with you a month ago, and you assured me that it didn’t matter because you still have months of school left.”

  Subconsciously, she’d crossed her arms over her chest, as if to shield herself from what she was about to say. “That was before I knew I was in love with you. Now, after today, I’m in love with your baby sister, too. I can’t get any closer to you, grow any deeper in a relationship with you, knowing that it’s going to have to end in six months. Because my future is going to have to happen, at least for the immediate time being, in Boston.”

  They stood, staring at each other for five seconds, then ten. Finally, without another word, Joe nodded, pivoted on his heel and turned, grabbing the gift bag that contained both of his presents before leaving the hotel room.

  She stared at the door for sixty seconds, then ninety. Suddenly, she felt her breath hitch as the pain in her chest brought her to her knees. She didn’t cry or wail. She just wrapped her arms around her middle and leaned forward until her forehead touched the ground. Then she started praying out loud.

  JOE couldn’t get a flight out of Providence until the next day. He forced himself to spend the night in the hotel, though he did not sleep well. He sat and stared at the sailboat with the brass sail and the Proverb that cut straight through his soul and sliced his heart in half.

  He caught a six o’clock flight to Charlotte, North Carolina, on Christmas morning. From there, he only had to wait an hour to get on a flight to Mobile. As soon as the plane landed, he turned his phone on and fielded texts from Max, Larry, and various Cru students who had learned about the death of his father. He had nothing from a woman with eyes the color of the calmest deep blue seas.

  Instead of calling someone and forcing himself to interact with a friend, he took a cab from the airport to the marina. Once aboard Star Sapphire, he carefully unpacked, returned his suitcase to the storage compartment under his bed, and sat on the couch. Everywhere he looked, he saw Madeline in his mind’s eye, filling in the empty places. In just a month, she had completely infiltrated his perfectly ordered, perfectly structured life. Desperate to escape, he went to the one room she had never entered and lay on his bed. At his feet sat the Christmas bag. He sat up and pulled the ship out, fingering the indentation of the words.

  In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy
paths. Proverbs 3:6

  Feeling his breath hitch, he finally said out loud, “Where are you directing me, God? Where is this feeling of discontent suddenly coming from?”

  He left the cabin and went up the stairs and back out onto the deck. He hopped over the railing onto the dock and unchained his bike and grill, carrying each of them onto the deck and securing them with tie downs. He started the engine and cast off from the dock, then carefully maneuvered himself out of slip number 67, out of the marina no wake zone, and on out into Mobile Bay.

  He always docked with a full tank of gas and restocked staples. So, once he reached the open water, he killed the engine, raised the sails, and let the wind take hold of the vessel. At the wheel, he punched in the coordinates.

  CHAPTER 10

  MADELINE lay curled on the couch in the main living room of her parents’ home in Florida, staring at the Christmas tree. This tree stood twelve feet tall and was decorated with handmade ornaments from children throughout the family. Her O’Farrell grandparents had dozens of grandchildren from their years fostering and adopting, and between them, her cousins, and TJ and herself, the tree had grown as the number of ornaments grew. She could think of nothing more joyful than the annual unpacking and hanging of the ornaments. Now she wondered if she could ever feel joy again.

  She’d arrived back in the Keys on Christmas Day, surprising her family by showing up in the middle of Christmas dinner. When she walked into the dining room, her mother had taken one look at her stricken face and hugged her tight. No one else asked any questions.

  She soaked in her family’s love. She played with her younger cousins. She loved on Rebekah, so thankful to have another Christmas with her. She cooked with her aunt Maxine, did dishes with her Seanmháthair Caroline, and let her grandfather Craig beat her at checkers twelve times.

  The chaos of Christmas gradually diminished as family members left. First went Barry, Maxine, and Cora, off to see Chase play in the bowl game. Then Grandpa Craig left to go work with his prison ministry. Her grandparents, Peter and Caroline, left at the same time to save the pilot from having to fly them on a special trip. On New Year’s Eve, Her Uncle Derrick and Aunt Sarah took their three children home. Eventually, the only people who remained in the large home were her immediate family.

  Seven days ago, Joe Westcott had walked out of her hotel suite without another word, and that was the last she’d heard from him. She’d flown home to Mobile on a chartered flight Christmas Eve night, and Christmas afternoon had gone to the marina to talk to him after calling the hotel in Providence and confirming he had checked out. When she found slip number 67 empty, devoid of a 50-foot sailboat christened Star Sapphire, devoid even of the grill that stayed chained to the dock, she thought her heart had actually stopped beating.

  Numb, she’d tried to call him, but had received his voice mail without even a single ring. Not knowing what to say, she had cleared her throat and stated, “I still owe you a grouper sandwich. They’re open for lunch on New Year’s Eve. Let’s start a tradition.”

  Then she’d purchased a first class ticket and flew to the Keys. She didn’t care about the cost and she didn’t care about how sick to her stomach she felt the entire flight.

  Now her stomach rolled, not from airsickness, but rather at the thought of going to that fish restaurant and having him simply not show up. Maybe he hadn’t even gotten her message. Maybe he was captaining that big white boat to Sydney in order to escape whatever this horrible thing was.

  She was sorry she’d ever left the message. Why, oh why was there no way to take something like that back? Was there no way to spin the earth backward on its axis and force time to go backward and undo it?

  Sniffling, she headed upstairs to her room. It felt bare and empty after the departure of her little cousins. Air mattresses had lined the floor for days and days, and now the big expanse of empty floor looked too depressing to her. She changed into a bright red summer dress and pinned a white angel clutching a star to one of the wide shoulder straps. As always, she wore her star sapphire necklace. Examining her face, she determined she could do nothing about the puffy eyes and dark circles except wear sunglasses.

  After running a brush through her hair and slipping on a pair of red sandals, she headed back downstairs. In the main hall, her sister-in-law, Faith, stood on a ladder, taking down a bough of holly.

  “Everything okay, love?” Faith asked, her voice very prim and properly British. “You look a bit wan.”

  She forced a bright smile onto her face. “I have a lunch date. I’ll see you guys later.”

  She went through the house and into the garage. Normally, her father kept a classic sapphire blue four door sedan parked in there. He had purchased the car for her mother a few months before they got married and had driven it to their new house in the Keys on their second wedding anniversary. For over twenty-five years, the car served as ready transportation for the family while here. Madeline found herself at loose ends when she walked into an empty garage.

  Outside, she walked around the house and down a path to the old groundskeeper’s cottage. After tapping on the door with her bare knuckles, she stepped back and waited. Eventually, her brother opened the door, a look of dazed concentration on his face. Clearly, he was working on his PhD thesis.

  “Sorry to bother you, Teej. May I borrow your truck?”

  “It’s Nelson’s truck, but sure. Where’s the car?” His face cleared as he stared at her. “You okay?”

  As tears sprang to her eyes, she nodded. “I don’t know where the car is. I just have to go see about something.”

  Before handing her the keys, TJ stepped out of his little workroom and pulled her into his arms. Out of nowhere, the fountain of tears started again and she had soaked the front of his shirt before she could stop them.

  “Someone who makes you cry this hard isn’t worth it, baby sis,” he observed.

  “You don’t know him.” She rubbed at her eyes and held out her hand, palm up. “Can I please borrow the truck?”

  “Of course.” He pulled the keys out of his pocket and set them in her palm, closing her fingers around them. “I’ll turn my phone ringer on. If you need me for anything, please call me.”

  She pressed her lips together and nodded, then walked to the truck. As the engine started, the air conditioner blew cold air onto her face, helping her cool off and hopefully helping dry the tears.

  ABOUT thirty minutes later, she pulled into the parking lot of the sandwich shop. As suspected, the line snaked out the door. Sunglasses on, she squared her shoulders and stepped into the line. Even if he didn’t show up, at least she’d get a sandwich to help her forget her sorrows.

  She felt his hand on her arm before she heard his voice. “Hello, Maddie.”

  With a gasp, she turned around and saw him. He’d gotten tanner by two shades at least, and the blond in his hair had almost overtaken his red. He wore a faded red T-shirt and khaki shorts with canvas shoes.

  “Joe?” She whispered about a millisecond before she threw herself into his arms. His arms came around her and squeezed her tightly to him.

  “Got your message.” She stepped back from him and slipped her sunglasses onto the top of her head. With a frown, he cupped her cheek. “You’ve been crying.”

  “Only for about a week.”

  He opened his mouth and shut it again, then gestured toward the tables in the interior of the restaurant. “I hope you don’t mind. I already got us sandwiches. ”

  Needing a moment to regroup, she followed him to their table and sat down, picking up the ice water in front of her plate and taking a long drink. Finally, she said, “I went to your place Christmas Day. When you were gone, I didn’t know what to do. I left that message standing there by your empty slip.”

  He cleared his throat. “I, ah, I had to leave. I had to get out on the water and think. Pray.” He pointed toward the water. “I knew I was coming here. I prayed you’d be here.”

  With a raised eyebrow, s
he said, “You know, giving me a message would have ensured that. Text. Email. Phone call. Singing telegram.”

  “True.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Listen, Maddie. I’ve had quite some time to think and pray. That boat you gave me, the verse couldn’t have been a Word delivered more on time.”

  She smiled a very small smile. “God works that way.”

  “He does. He seems to be redirecting my path just now.”

  With a little flutter of excitement in her chest, she widened her eyes. “Oh?”

  “While I sailed here, I spent the week immersed in God’s Word. Where He kept taking me back to was the story of Joseph of Nazareth. What stood out to me reading everything I could read about Joseph is that he didn’t ask for anything God gave him. He was probably like most men, just wanting to do well in his field, marry, have children. He never went to God and said, ‘Hey, God, I’d really like to be the stepfather to your only begotten Son.’”

  Despite herself, she smiled. His style of teaching had always engaged her.

  He continued. “Matthew says Joseph woke from his dream where an angel assured him that Mary’s child was the Son of God, and the exact words are, ‘Then Joseph did as the angel of the Lord commanded.’”

  Madeline wanted to interject and reassure, but she didn’t want to interrupt.

  “Point is, he didn’t argue that it wasn’t what he wanted. Never said it was something he never asked for. Didn’t try to wiggle out of it even once. He took Mary as his wife. When Christ was a very young child, he listened without question to another angel and fled with his family to Egypt. He offered a sacrifice for a child who wasn’t his son, and raised Him as God commanded.”

  Eyes burning with intensity, he reached forward and took her hand. “I can take a hint from God. Joseph didn’t even flinch when God chose him and derailed his entire life. But God had a plan for Joseph and God’s plans were good. I have always believed God had a plan for my life. If I’m open to listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit, then I have to admit that He’s leading me toward a path I wouldn’t have chosen for myself. I have to accept it because my choice must be to trust God and believe that the ultimate end is part of His plan for my life and that His plan for me is good.”