Yuletide Bride by Danielle Lee Zwissler Read Free Book Online Page B

been around for some time now. If we go around telling everyone the secrets of the festival, then it wouldn’t exactly be a magical time of year, now would it?”
    “So, how does it all work?”
    “Well, we watch people, you see? As a committee, we nominate people that we notice in town that are perfect for one another.”
    “So, in other words, you play God?”
    “Oh, no…not God. With God you have free will. We are more like a human-cupid match-making kind of festival. And we are quite good at it, as you’ve noticed.”
    “No kidding,” Mary said, amazed that the information she needed for her story came to her tenfold.
    “So, what’s the catch? Do you let one of the people in the couple in on it from the
    Get-go?”
    “It’s not always like that,” Layla answered. “Sometimes we wait until after the ceremony, and other times, we help… we guide them along a bit.”
    “Really?”
    “Oh yes… it’s quite complicated,” the mayor added ruefully. “Some people are quite stubborn. We have contracts, too.”
    “Contracts?”
    “Yes, in order for us to make this a real ‘miracle’ we have to guarantee its success.”
    “What’s in the contract?”
    “You can never get a divorce.”
    “Never?”
    “Never,” the mayor confirmed. “We have a great set of lawyers behind us on the contracts. They make sure that everything is perfectly legal and binding.”
    “So, the people that get married actually agree to that?” Mary asked, amazed.
    “Yes, it’s part of the charm. Of course, you could say no, but why would you? The whole ‘love-match’ is perfect. We take a long while in our decisions, and actually several of our couples for the next few years have already been selected.”
    “You have got to be kidding me.”
    “Nope,” Layla said proudly.
    “Then why go through the whole farce of the jar?”
    “Well, the jar is tricky. We still collect names and then we have a separate jar with the names of the couple only.”  Roy looked at his wife and grinned. They really did look happy.
    “So, you have over 4,000 names collected and the papers all say the same name?” Mary asked, and saw Roy nod.
    “Yep.”
    “Weird.”
    “I know,” Roy said. “When I found out I was shocked, but any way you slice it, it’s a good deal. I didn’t have to go through all the pain of trying to find out if Layla was perfect for me. Arranged marriages were, a lot of times, very successful.”
    “It’s all very romantic, isn’t it?” Layla asked Mary. Mary only nodded. The information from tonight’s session would put a lot of people over the top. In an odd way, Mary felt pissed that nobody ever selected her to marry anyone.
    “You’re wondering why you haven’t been picked yet, aren’t you?” Layla asked.
    Mary blushed.
    “It’s not that we don’t want happiness for you, Mary. We do. It’s just that, well… we haven’t found your perfect someone yet.”
    “Have you put your name in the jar this year, Mary?”
    “Why does it matter?”
    “Well, it doesn’t hurt to have a bit of faith every once in a while,” Roy said, handing her a pen and a small sheaf of paper. Mary took it and scrawled her name on it and placed it in her pocket. She looked at the mayor and his wife and nodded, thanking them for their time, knowing that in her heart James was her perfect someone.
    “That’s okay, I am perfectly happy to choose my own mate. I’ll put this in your fake jar on the way out,” Mary said, knowing full well that she wouldn’t. It was funny, really. She’d hoped that it was magic, meeting the love of your life from just writing your name on the small piece of paper. A little bit of magic inside of her died that night as she walked out the door.

    Several hours later, Mary was still up, reeling from what the Jamesons told her. She’d learned all about the festival, the truth about the couples and the reason why everything went the way it did over the years. She’d learned how the festival