Archive of Our Own ^beta

It was quite a feat to oversee a town-wide Independence Christmas celebration, a crazy idea someone had suggested over a drunken game of poker last week, but Kate had fallen in love with the notion and thrown herself into the task with abandon.

She’d used her charm to persuade everyone to help, from bar owners to shopkeepers, with Kai and Abby especially prevailed upon to assist with festivities. There was to be a lavish Christmas dinner at the hotel and a grand show performed by the dancers afterwards, with carol singing and hot toddies to round off the evening. It was going to be magical, or so Kate kept saying firmly, as if she could force the festivities to be especially merry.

For her part, Abby didn’t mind helping in the least. She’d volunteered for doing the bulk of the decorating, the part of Christmas she’d always most enjoyed. She missed the holly she knew from Boston but Hoyt had brought her a whole load of Yaupon holly and boughs of Austrian Pine so she’d been able to make wreaths and some lovely miniature bouquets stuck into empty bottles from behind the bar. Lucia had sent over some pointsettia and promised to bring some tamales to the feast, while the townsfolk had donated candles and cookies and, to Abby’s surprise and delight, some precious glass baubles for the tree.

Abby had even got Tom helping her make paper chains which, Kate had whispered when she’d seen the sheriff sitting in his shirtsleeves, deep in concentration over this task, was a Christmas miracle in itself.

Things would be different this Christmas Abby thought, putting down the bag of nuts by the huge bowl she was to fill, but maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all. She headed back to grab more supplies from the pile of deliveries by the front door but Tom, who’d taken a break from the pile of paper, halted her progress, stepping in front of her and placing his arms around her as if they were about to waltz.

“Wait,” he said.

“What?” she said, with a laugh. “We still have so much to do.”

“This needs to be done first,” he said huskily, gazing upwards. She raised her eyes to the mistletoe above them. A cheeky little surprise from Hoyt, no doubt, and one she appreciated.

“Merry Christmas, Tom,” she said softly and they shared a deep and tender kiss.

This was already a truly magical Christmas.