COMPLETE ✓| Charlotte Hastings found herself between a rock and a hard place when she aged out of the foster system. With only a car to her name, she set out on the open road, hoping to find long lost relatives. Winter hits her hard. When she meets...
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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE | A BLACKWOOD CHRISTMAS
Elijah Blackwood
She had seemed so earnest when we spoke, but the truth was everything bad that had happened in the past, as far as I was concerned, was completely behind us. But there was one thing that was left undone and with the help of my entire family, I was hoping to fix the problem of Lottie not feeling like she belonged. So we spent the rest of the 23rd shopping for a new outfit for Lottie. I convinced my mom to help, so she insisted Lottie needed to have a new Christmas dress, but wouldn't tell her why. I knew Lottie enough to know she would have resisted any gifts from me, but she was powerless against my mother. We had that in common.
So when three in the afternoon rolled around on Christmas Eve, I was left standing in the living room waiting for Lottie to change into a dress I had yet to see at the request of my mother. All I knew was it was going to fit into the family picture.
"Lottie, we are going to be late for supper at this pace. The kids might actually kidnap you if you delay their festivities."
"I'm coming!" she called from the room. "Just putting on the finishing touches."
At my mother's request, I had a very Christmasy red tie with white and silver snowflakes on it. At least it's not a tacky sweater like last year.
I reached down to slide my gloves out of the overnight bag I had packed the night before and zipped it up. Then I slid the handle over the small suitcase I had made Lottie pack despite her protests.
"Lottie? I'm going to take the bags to the car and I'll meet you out there okay?"
"No need. I'll come with you," she said as she appeared around the corner of the hallway, sliding a small earring into her left ear and twirling around once. Her confidence wavered only for a moment when she asked, "Do I look okay?"
My jaw slackened and I couldn't help but look at her. The long sleeved red dress was lacy almost and it was tight to all of her. "You are drop dead gorgeous," I answered honestly. "Wow."
"Okay, that's enough flattery for one day, Mr. Blackwood. Let's get to your parents' house already." Before I could even move again, she had picked up the bags and carried them, along with her shiny black shoe, up the stairs. "You coming or are you just going to stay here with your jaw on the floor all day?" she teased when she reached the top and slid her shoes on.
"Yeah, I'm coming." I bounded up the stairs two at a time and slid my gloves on, locking the door behind us while Lottie threw the bags into the back of the truck. She really was remarkably strong for someone that small.
As usual, the drive was filled with Lottie dancing to whatever music was on. In this case, some kind of strange blues country Christmas mix I personally couldn't stand, but Lottie made everything interesting. So by the time I put the truck in park at my parents house, I was also dancing along to what was left of a beat in the terrible Christmas music.
