Page 5 of The Lie That Stole Christmas

Aunt Eleanor hugged Ashley.She set the standard for New England old-money style; unfortunately, her attitude was as tight as the buttons on her navy-colored peacoat.Her eyes drifted to Camille, and though she didn’t say a word, her arched eyebrow spoke volumes.

“Is the lawyer here for the reading of the will?”Uncle Rick asked Dad, who shook his head.

Tears pricked Ashley’s eyes at Uncle Rick’s businesslike tone, as though Grandpa’s death were nothing more than a meeting to get through.

“I believe we are all here?”Mr.Hawthorne said at the top of the landing where the two staircases met.Every head turned toward him as he directed his gaze to the left staircase.

What the…?

Her grief vanished beneath a wave of confusion.Ashley’s mouth fell as Gabe’s hand settled on her shoulder.

Gasps erupted, followed by a string of profanity.The confusion evaporated, replaced by a surge of white-hot anger as the Ghost of Christmas Past appeared.

Bill Wetherby wasn’t dead.

Chapter three

Ashley

ShockslammedthroughAshley,her brain struggling to make sense of what she was seeing.Her grandfather stood at the top of the stairs as if nothing had happened, smiling that ridiculous grin and practically glowing with pride.

She’d cried for him.Mourned him.Been wracked with guilt for not calling or visiting once since Grandma’s funeral, when he unloaded on each and every one of them.

He’d mocked her career choice and told her it was shameful and a waste of her potential.She hated him for it, and not just because of the cruelty in his tone when he hurled those words at her, but because he made her question her ability, her worth, and whether she’d ever been good enough.

As memories paraded through her mind like spirits summoned by Dickens himself, she was hit with a second ghost.

Carter Reeves.

He appeared at her grandfather’s side, the pair resembling sentinels standing watch over the chaos they had created.Time had changed him, but not enough.He was older, broader in the shoulders; his once smooth jaw was now covered in the same dirty blonde as his head.Gone was the lanky twelve-year-old who helped her hang curtains.The sixteen-year-old boy who’d sneaked her out to watch the first snowfall and given her a memorable first kiss.The nineteen-year-old who’d stolen her away whenever the house became too loud.The twenty-one-year-old who’d taken her…

She shook the memory away as she stared at the man in the tailored-to-perfection suit.His hands clasped behind his back, his eyes the same piercing blue that could cut through her soul if she let them.

Ashley’s breath caught in her throat.

Gabe’s grip on her shoulder tightened.

“Surprise!”Grandpa bellowed, spreading his arms wide as if he were welcoming guests to a party and not crashing his own funeral.

“You’re supposed to be dead,” Aunt Marilyn snapped.

Grandpa beamed at the room, looking far too pleased with himself.“Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.”

Gabe’s hand fell from her shoulder, and he tossed his arms in the air.“Oh what the fuck?”Gabe’s voice echoed through the vestibule, and chaos erupted.A loud scream pierced through the air, and Ashley’s head whipped toward Mom, who was clutching her pearls.All color fled Uncle Rick’s face.Dad stood wide-eyed and frozen.Aunt Marilyn snatched a bottle of whiskey off a cart, popped the top, and drank directly from the bottle.

But Ashley couldn’t look away from the man at her grandfather’s side.Memories crashed into her, stolen glances across the estate grounds, the first tentative kiss behind the stables, whispered promises in the dark.And then the crushing weight of his rejection, the cold finality in his voice when he told her he wouldn’t follow her to New York, and he didn’t love her—that he’d never loved her.

A lie.It had to be.Or the man missed his calling as an actor.Still, she left, and in all that time, he never reached out, not once.She’d moved on, but no one had ever made her feel the way he had.

And now here he was at Winterridge, the start and end of it all, standing beside her very much alive grandfather as if he belonged there, as if those years hadn’t happened at all.

All those emotions she fought to bury came crashing into her.She had a million questions, but when his eyes met hers from the top of the stairs, every single thought fled her mind.

A slight smile lifted his lip, and her heart slammed against her chest.What was he doing here?

Grandpa clapped Carter on the shoulder as if they were best mates.“I guess I owe you all an explanation.”

Ashley tried to focus on her grandfather, but her eyes kept drifting to Carter.