Spoonful of Christmas (11 page)

R
ACHEL AND
M
IKE
stood by the Christmas tree, gazed into each other’s eyes, and pledged their lives to each other in the simplicity of their Creative Cupcakes shop. Andi had never been part of anything so beautiful, except for her own wedding.

Beside her, Kim squeezed her bouquet of mistletoe tight, even tighter during the ring exchange. She and Nathaniel were still circling each other like wary strangers, which made it all the more awkward when Rachel tossed her bouquet, and Kim caught it.

Andi could almost feel the dread emanating from Kim’s expression, and her heart went out to her. The trepidation multiplied ten times more when Mike threw the garter, the other men stepped out of the way, and Nathaniel was the only man left standing.

Folktales stated that the single girl and single guy who caught the bridal ware would be the next in line to marry. But Andi knew Kim believed that—in
this
case, they couldn’t have gotten it more wrong.

“Do I really have to go through with this?” Kim whispered.

Andi squeezed her hand. “Oh, Kim! I’m so sorry!”

Kim’s cheeks turned red. As was tradition, she was going to have to face Nathaniel, allow him to slide the garter up her leg, and pretend she was fine.

Kim sat in the chair Mike had brought to the center of the room, and Nathaniel stepped forward, garter in hand. Then Nathaniel took a deep breath, and Andi got the impression he was as nervous as her sister.

He kneeled, lifted the floor-length hem of Kim’s holly green Christmas skirt, and slipped the garter over her toe, up her calf, and over her knee.

“Kim,” Nathaniel said, “open your eyes.”

Andi could tell her sister hadn’t wanted to look, but when she did, Kim let out a scream.

What happened? Andi craned her neck to see and almost screamed herself when she spotted the glittering diamond ring tied around the blue lace garter.

“That was fast!” Rachel exclaimed, an even bigger smile spreading over her already smiling face.

“Kimberly Nicole Burke,” Nathaniel said, taking the ring off the garter and transferring it to her hand, “I love you. The greatest adventure I could ever have would be to share my life with you. I want a home, family, and kids, all of it.”

“You do?” Kim didn’t look like she believed him.

“Why do you think I committed to buying the garden nursery? I’ve traveled enough to know that this is where I’d like to establish a permanent residence. But then I met you and I was afraid that
you
were the one who would want as many stamps as you could fit in your passport.”

Kim, not usually one to give in to emotion, was a teary mess. “I heard you tell Stacey about your travel plans to New Zealand.”

“I told her I thought it would make a good honeymoon destination—with you.”

Kim laughed. “I can do honeymoons.”

Nathaniel grinned. “Is that a yes?
Ja
? Will you marry me?”

“Yes!” Kim shouted and flung her arms around him for a kiss. “I love you, too!”

“A few minutes earlier, and we could have made it a double wedding,” Mike joked.

Rachel walked over and apologized to her cousin. “If you didn’t shine the light on the Grinch, no one would have seen him. You win the reward of a dozen peppermint hot chocolate cupcakes.”

Stacey gave only a half-smile.

“If she doesn’t want them, I’ll take them,” Grandpa Lewy said, leaning in.

“Too bad you have to leave, Stacey,” Rachel added. “You’ve been a great help in the kitchen.”

“Actually,” Stacey told them, “I don’t have . . . anywhere to go. In Coeur d’Alene I stayed with a friend but couldn’t find a job, and . . . now I’m homeless and flat broke.”

“You can be the one who runs our new traveling cupcake stand on the beach this summer,” Andi told her.

“What cupcake stand?” Rachel and Kim demanded.

“The one we’ll buy with the money my dead-beat ex finally paid me back with after all these years,” Andi said, barely able to hold on to her excitement.

“Should we open the gifts?” Jake asked, motioning everyone together.

Rachel and Mike admitted they did have a gift for each other. Homemade gifts. Mike presented Rachel with a miniature model of the cupcake shop. Rachel gave him hand-written movie tickets for a quiet night of popcorn and romance at home.

Kim gave Nathaniel a canvas she had painted of two turtle doves perched on top of the Astoria Column, nose to nose as if they were kissing. And he gave her a rose garden of her very own, in his yard, with her name on it so that there would be no doubt in the future where she belonged.

Andi watched the excitement cross Mia’s face as she opened one of the gifts they’d pulled up through the trapdoor.

“An Easy-Bake Oven!” her daughter squealed. Then Mia handed a stocking to Max, the same one she’d written his name on with glitter.

“A friendship bracelet,” Max said, pulling out the bright purple-and-pink braided band. “Uh . . . thanks, Mia. They’re my favorite colors.”

Mike’s mother, who no one knew very well, leaned toward Max, and Andi heard her say, “You’ve got your father’s brown hair and your mother’s blue eyes.”

Max flushed and glanced at her and Jake. Then shook his head. “They’re not my parents.”

The lady shrugged. “They look as if they
could
be.”

Andi turned her head and caught Jake looking at her. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Adopt Max?” Jake asked and nodded.

“My father is going to say I’m being impulsive again. What will I tell him?”

Jake grinned. “That you were moved by compassion.”

“He says it’s my compassion that gets me into trouble.”

“And I say it’s your compassion that I love most about you. Tell him it’s my idea, and we can be impulsive together.”

Jake motioned to the stocking in Max’s hands. “There’s something else for you in there.”

Max lifted out a pair of new drumsticks. “No way! For me?”

“The tag says, ‘Love, Santa,’ ” Mia said, pointing to the words. “He found you this year.”

“Goes with your other gift in the kitchen,” Jake told him. “What’s a drumstick without a drum?”

Max stared at him, ran into the kitchen with Mia, gave a whoop of delight, and ran back. “What’s the catch?”

“No catch,” Jake said, “but an offer. You don’t need to be a rock star to be somebody special. If you agree to join our family, you will be special to us.”

Max frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“Will you adopt us?” Jake asked. “Although I must warn you before you make a decision—you’d also be gaining two sisters.”

Andi touched Jake’s arm and smiled. “Actually, he’d be gaining one more, but I’m not sure if it’s a girl or a boy.”

Jake opened his mouth and stared at her. Then finally said, “You’re . . . you’re—”

Andi nodded. “We’re having a baby.”

“She gave me a baby for Christmas!” Jake shouted.

“We’re going to need a bigger house,” Andi told him.

“After we all get back from Hawaii,” Jake agreed and held up five airline tickets.

Andi gasped. “How did you know to get five?”

“Well, one was supposed to be for your father, but we don’t have to tell him that.”

“What do you say, Max?” Andi asked, holding her breath. “Will you accept this crazy family as your own?”

The bright smile that spread across Max’s face lit up the whole room. “I will!”

After Max ran back to his drum set, Andi wrapped her arms around Jake’s neck and pulled him close. “What if I told you that you’re the most caring person I’ve ever met?”

“What if I told you I’ve never loved anyone as much as I love you?” He grinned. “Except . . . Taylor, Mia, our new baby, and now Max—”

Andi laughed, her heart happy and full. “I’d say this is the best Christmas ever. And love . . . is the best gift.”

“A gift we can use all year long.”

She smiled. “And can’t be stolen.”

Jake leaned down and captured her lips in a sweet, passionate, head-swirling kiss. Then Andi looked around the circle of people holding hands and singing carols, with their holiday Scrooge standing on a chair in the middle. Her eyes narrowed. What was he up to? Was that a smile on his face? A sparkle of holiday joy?

“Merry Christmas!” Guy Armstrong shouted. “Cupcakes for all! And God bless us, everyone!”

Recipe for

PEPPERMINT HOT CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

from Malorie Gibson of Jackson, New Jersey

www.SweetBumCupcakes.com

Cupcake Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
  
• 2 cups sugar
  
• ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  
• 1½ teaspoons baking soda
  
• 1 ½ cups milk
  
• ½ cup butter
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
  
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
  
• 2 eggs
  

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  
• Measure out everything except the eggs directly into your mixer bowl.
  
• Mix on low speed until incorporated. Continue to beat on high speed for 2 minutes.
  
• Add eggs, beat on high speed for another 2 minutes.
  
• Cook 15–20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
  

Ganache Ingredients:

• ½ cup heavy cream
  
• ¼ teaspoons vanilla
  
• 8 ounces good semisweet chocolate chips
  

Instructions:

Bring heavy cream and vanilla to a boil, then stir in chocolate chips until melted and remove from heat. Let sit for about an hour until ready to be put in the middle of the cupcake.

Frosting Ingredients:

• 2 sticks butter
  
• ½ cup cocoa
  
• 1 cups confectioner’s sugar
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
  
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
  
• 3 cups confectioner’s sugar
  

Instructions:

• Beat butter on high for about 30 seconds until soft.
  
• Add cocoa and 1 cup of sugar and beat until incorporated.
  
• Add vanilla, peppermint, and 3 cups of sugar and beat until incorporated.
  
• After cupcakes are cooked and cooled, take a knife and cut a hole in the middle of the cupcake (reserve the top), pour or spoon the ganache in the middle of the cupcake, and replace the top. Frost the top of the cupcake and garnish with some chopped peppermint candies if desired. Enjoy!
  

Keep reading for excerpts from the first three books in The Cupcake Diaries series,

SWEET ON YOU, RECIPE FOR LOVE,

and

TASTE OF ROMANCE,

now available from Avon Impulse.

An Excerpt from

THE CUPCAKE DIARIES: SWEET ON YOU

Forget love . . . I’d rather fall in chocolate!

—Author unknown

A
NDI CAST A
glance over the rowdy karaoke crowd to the man sitting at the front table with the clear plastic bakery box in his possession.

“What am I supposed to say?” she whispered, looking back at her sister, Kim, and their friend Rachel as the three of them huddled together. “Can I have your cupcake? He’ll think I’m a lunatic.”

“Say ‘please,’ and tell him about our tradition,” Kim suggested.

“Offer him money.” Rachel dug through her dilapidated Gucci knockoff purse and withdrew a ten-dollar bill. “And let him know we’re celebrating your sister’s birthday.”

“You did promise me a cupcake for my birthday,” Kim said with an impish grin. “Besides, the guy doesn’t look like he plans to eat it. He hasn’t even glanced at the cupcake since the old woman came in and delivered the box.”

Andi tucked a loose strand of her dark blond hair behind her ear and drew in a deep breath. She wasn’t used to taking food from anyone. Usually she was on the other end—giving it away. Her fault. She didn’t plan ahead.

Why couldn’t any of the businesses here be open twenty-four hours like in Portland? Out of the two dozen eclectic cafes and restaurants along the Astoria waterfront promising to satisfy customers’ palates, shouldn’t at least one cater to late-night customers like herself? No, they all shut down at 10:30, some earlier, as if they knew she was coming. That’s what she got for living in a small town. Anticipation but no cake.

However, she was determined not to let her younger sister down. She’d promised Kim a cupcake for her twenty-sixth birthday, and she’d try her best to procure one, even if it meant making a fool of herself.

Andi shot her ever-popular friend Rachel a wry look. “You know you’re better at this than I am.”

Rachel grinned. “You’re going to have to start interacting with the opposite sex again sometime.”

Maybe. But not on the personal level, Rachel’s tone suggested. Andi’s divorce the previous year had left behind a bitter aftertaste no amount of sweet talk could dissolve.

Pushing back her chair, she stood up. “Tonight, all I want is the cupcake.”

A
NDI HAD TAKEN
only a few steps when the man with the bakery box turned his head and smiled.

He probably thought she was coming over, hoping to find a date. Why shouldn’t he? The Captain’s Port was filled with people looking for a connection, if not for a lifetime, then at least for the hour or so they shared within the friendly confines of the restaurant’s casual, communal atmosphere.

She hesitated midstep before continuing forward. Heat rushed into her cheeks. Dressed in jeans and a navy blue tie and sport jacket, he was even better looking than she’d first thought. Thirtyish. Light brown hair, fair skin with an evening shadow along his jaw, and the most amazing gold-flecked, chocolate brown eyes she’d ever seen.
Oh my
. He could have his pick of any woman in the place. Any woman in Astoria, Oregon.

“Hi,” he said.

Andi swallowed the nervous tension gathering at the back of her throat and managed a smile in return. “Hi. I’m sorry to bother you, but it’s my sister’s birthday, and I promised her a cupcake.” She nodded toward the see-through box and waved the ten-dollar bill. “Is there any chance I can persuade you to sell the one you have here?”