A Christmas Gift

“Her wedding starts in an hour,” Frank informed his friend Mick, “You should go. You can object.” He was talking about Mick’s high school sweetheart, Leah.  They had a real love but time and circumstance separated them, Mick had always wanted to reconnect, but those plans were halted when he came across her marriage announcement online. “I will not disturb her wedding. I will, however, go to the Broadmoor like I do every Christmas.” He grabbed his suitcase and opened the door, “Merry Christmas Frank, see you in the new year.” 
A few hours later Mick was checking in at the Broadmoor, “Welcome back, Mr. Hunter and Merry Christmas.” Said the manager, Sarah, whom he had become friendly with in the few years he had been coming here. “Thank you Sarah, Merry Christmas.” Mick turned towards the elevators just missing the newlyweds heading to the desk to check in. 
Mick was sitting at the bar, sipping a beer, when he heard a couple come in and ask for a bottle of champagne. Curious, Mick turned and was stunned to see Leah with her new husband. He was a tall, thin man with brown hair, brown eyes, and a soft look about him. This wasn’t a man who worked with his hands a lot. Leah, however, was as gorgeous as the day he last saw her. Brown hair draped down over one shoulder, as she always wore it, brown eyes sparkling and so full of love, and a smile that made Mick’s heart skip a beat. Mick called the bartender over, “That young couple that just ordered the champagne, put it on my tab, tell them it’s a wedding gift and get me the bill please.” 
Mick was walking out the bar when he heard the bartender tell Leah and her husband that he had bought the champagne. He heard a shuffling of feet running up to him, “Excuse me,” It was Leah. He turned and Leah recognized him instantly, “Mick,” She was speechless. Her husband came up, “You bought our champagne, can I ask why?” He asked. “Leah and I are old friends so this was my wedding present to you both. I am Mick.” “Jim.” They shook hands, Leah was still standing there speechless. “Well congratulations to you both, enjoy yourselves. I am off to my room.” He shook Jim’s hand again and then looked at Leah, “Leah, you look lovely. Good to see you again.” Mick walked off but was stopped by Leah calling his name, both Jim and Mick looked at her because it seemed like she was going to say something important but all she said was, “It was nice to see you again, Mick. Thank you.” Jim looked at Leah, then Mick, then back to Leah again, sensing that there was so much more that remained unsaid. Mick just smiled, winked, and walked off back to his room.
“What was that?” Jim asked Leah as they sat back down. “He is an old friend, that’s all.” Leah said, distracted. “You have never mentioned him.” “I haven’t thought about him for years.” “Now you can’t stop thinking about him” Leah locked eyes with Jim, “It’s nothing, it just took me by surprise.” Leah said, trying to reassure both Jim and herself. “You loved each other, didn’t you?” Leah didn’t answer but her silence was all the answer Jim needed. He got up from the table, heading toward the bar, leaving Leah with her thoughts. She couldn’t believe that Mick was here, on her wedding day of all days, she also couldn’t believe all that she was feeling. Jim came back to the table, “He is in room 323. Go see him.” She was shocked, “What? No. This is our wedding night.” He held up his hand, stopping her. “That’s where you need to be, that’s where you want to be. We both know it to be true. Go. We will catch up later. We will figure things out later.” He gave her a knowing but sad smile. “I am sorry, Jim.” Leah said and she actually meant it, this wasn’t fair to him on his wedding night. “Hey, I love you and I want nothing more than for you to be happy. Right now I believe that you will be happiest with him, so I won’t stop you.” Leah smiled and kissed him, “Thank you.” She headed off to the elevators.
Mick sat on the chair in his room, processing what just happened in the bar. He had resigned himself that he had no chance to reconcile with Leah because of her marriage but then there she was in that bar. Did this mean there was a chance to reconnect or was it just a chance just to say goodbye? He didn’t know. She seemed happy and he did not want to mess that up for her but there was that moment in the bar, she wanted to say more than she did, both Mick and Jim noticed it. Maybe he was overthinking, maybe he was wishing for it to be true. Seeing her again did bring up some of those old feelings. He still loved her, he always would, he just assumed it would be a love from afar, something only he knew of. How long were they going to be there? They were bound to run into each other, right? What would happen then? Would he have to fight Jim? He hoped not, he wasn’t a bad guy. Not right for Leah, said the little voice in the back of his head, the voice that believed only he and he alone would be right for her. Mick silenced that voice. He decided not to overthink and just deal with things as they came. Believing he had handled that interaction in the bar the best way he could, he started to get ready for bed. Then there was a knock at the door. 
He opened the door and was surprised to see Leah standing there by herself. “What are you…” he was stopped by Leah hugging him tightly. Mick stood there shocked before hugging her back. It felt good to hold her again. She let him go and Mick invited her into the room. “Where is Jim?” he asked her. “Back in the bar, probably. He knows I am here. He told me to come, he said I want to be here and should be here.” “Do you?” She nodded her head yes. “Do you have something to say to me? It seemed like you wanted to say something in the bar.” Mick told Leah as he sat on the bed. She sat on the chair and sighed as she tried to put her thoughts in order. 
“It took me by surprise to see you here.” Leah began. “It brought up emotions that I haven’t felt in years and it reminded me how much I still care for you.” She paused to let that sink in before continuing, “But I also felt guilty because of Jim, it being our wedding night, but he saw that I still had feelings for you and told me to come here and talk to you. He said that he wanted nothing more than to see me happy and he believed that I would be happiest here with you.” “Is that true?” Mick asked her. “Yes, I want to be here. Do you want me here?” Leah asked him. 
“More than anything.” Mick said without a moment's hesitation. “I had given up hope that we would reconnect again when I heard about your wedding so I resigned myself to the fact that I would have to hold my feelings for you deep inside and never let them out, that I would have to be happy without you in my life. Then tonight happened and I was faced with a difficult decision: do I leave the bar and not disturb you on your wedding night or do I act graciously and congratulate you without causing a scene. I chose the latter and tried to leave before you noticed me because I did not want to cause problems with  you and your husband.” After a brief pause he invited Leah to sit next to him.
“Leah,” Mick began, grabbing her hands, “I have missed you everyday since we last saw each other. I have never stopped loving you either. I am very happy to see you, that you came here and that we ran into each other. I don’t believe that is a coincidence.” Leah squeezed his hand, “I don’t either. What are you doing here?” “Spending Christmas. I have spent Christmas here for the past 5 years. With the grandparents gone and mom passing away 6 years ago I didn’t have anywhere to spend Christmas. I fell in love with this place when our choir came here in high school, remember?” Leah smiled, “You know we weren’t originally going to come here. We had another hotel we were set on until I saw an ad for this place and I remembered the trip our choir took here. You and I had such a good time here didn’t we?” Mick hugged her and held her close, “The best time. It feels so good to have you in my arms again, Leah. I love you.” “I love you, too.”