Undeniable Demands ( Secrets of Eden 1)

“Your package is ready, dear.”

Tori returned to the counter. “Thank you. I’m sure it will look  great. The silver and blue against the shiny aluminum will be perfect.”

“It will,” she agreed. “What are you doing for Christmas? Do  you have any family nearby?”

Tori shook her head. “No. My parents travel a lot. The last  time they called, they were in Oregon. I’ll probably call and check in with them  Christmas Day, but I haven’t spent an actual holiday with them in years.”

“What about any brothers and sisters? Aunts? Cousins?”

“I’m an only child. And my family moved so much that we never  really connected with our extended family.”

“Hmph,” Molly said thoughtfully, although Tori wasn’t exactly  sure what that meant. “Would you like to join me by the fireplace for some hot  mulled cider?”

“I don’t want to take up your time.”

“Posh! The store is empty. Business won’t pick up until later  today, and then just with last-minute folk in a rush. Come on, I’ll fix you a  cup. I’ve also got some snickerdoodles I took out of the oven right before you  came in.”

Unable to turn down the Christmas pied piper, she followed  Molly over to the refreshment stand, then to the rocking chairs in front of the  fireplace.

“You guys really have a lovely place here. It’s like a child’s  Christmas fantasy.”

“Thank you. That’s really what we were going for—a treasured  holiday tradition as opposed to just a shopping trip. Ken and I have always  loved children. We’d hoped to have at least five or six.” Tori watched Molly  gently finger the rim of her paper cup as she spoke. “When that didn’t work out,  of course, we started taking in foster kids. Wade was the first child we took  in.”

“Oh,” Tori said, the pieces of her conversations with Wade and  the bartender finally clicking into place. That was why he had a different last  name from the people he considered his parents. He obviously adored Molly as  though she were his biological mother. Perhaps not all of his story was meant to  play on her emotions. It was possible he did want to preserve the land that had  been a special home for him.

Did that change how she felt about selling her property? No.  But it did change a little of how she felt about him.

“I didn’t realize Wade was a foster child.”

“Yes. Julianne is the only child nature blessed us with. The  rest came to us through the Litchfield County Social Services office. We had so  many over the years, but Wade, Brody, Xander and Heath were the ones who really  became a part of our family. It gave us a lot of joy to give a home to children  who really needed one. We’d hoped that one day we would be able to turn the farm  over to one of them, but that probably won’t happen. We raised them to dream  big, and they did. Unfortunately, none of them dreamed of being a Christmas tree  farmer.”

Tori took a bite of one of the warm cookies and nearly moaned  with pleasure. The cinnamon, sugar and butter were a divine combination. She’d  honestly never had a cookie this good before. “Oh, Molly, this cookie is  wonderful. I couldn’t have expected anything less with everything you have here.  I never had a Christmas tree growing up, but I always imagined buying one at a  place like this.”

“You’ve never had a Christmas tree?” Molly looked appalled.

“No. My family liked to travel. My mom homeschooled me so we  could move from one town to the next every few weeks. The camper wasn’t much  bigger than the one I have now, so no real room for a tree. Sometimes, on  Christmas morning, my parents would get up really early and decorate one of the  nearby trees in the RV park where we were staying.”

“Christmas in a camper.” Tori could see the wheels turning in  Molly’s head. “Then I suppose a huge turkey with all the trimmings and homemade  pies were out of the question.”

Tori chuckled. “Not once in my life have I ever had that. My  parents are hippies, really, so they were more into tofu and organic vegetables  when I was young. And, yes, even if she’d wanted to cook a turkey, my mom didn’t  have the room or the equipment. Sometimes we’d eat at a Cracker Barrel when my  dad got nostalgic for home-cooked food.”

At that, Molly paled beside her. The rosy cheeks had vanished  as though Tori had just told her there was no Santa Claus. “You’re coming over  to our place Monday night for Christmas Eve dinner.”