I load Holly and Ford into the truck and make sure the sleds are secure before we head back to the house. Jingle Bell Rock comes on the radio and I find myself humming along to it with Holly.
She turns and smiles at me and it hits me once again.
How am I ever going to let this girl go?
Ten
Holly
* * *
The bed dips next to me and I blink one eye open to see Beau starting to climb out of bed. I can barely remember last night. Just that we had stayed up way too late making sugar cookies and decorating them. He had said that he thought I was sweeter but he needed to double check and one thing had led to another. He made love to me slowly and with the snow falling outside, it had felt like we were the only two people on earth.
There’s been no talk of my car or me leaving and I know that I should ask him, but I can’t find it in me to. I don’t want to leave. When I had first started driving, I thought that I would make it to Wisconsin and settle in. I’d start my new job and then, maybe, if I was lucky, I would find love.
Life has a funny way of giving you what you need though and now I can’t imagine not waking up to Beau and Ford every day. I love him. I love Ford and this town. A job might be waiting for me in Wisconsin but love and a happily ever after is here for me. How can I possibly walk away from that?
“Where are you going?” I ask him, my voice rusty from disuse.
“I was going to go take a look at your car. Hunter called and said the part I need was in a few days ago but we got busy decorating the house and I never picked it up.”
His words are like ice water and I jerk up in bed. Beau is on me in an instant.
“What’s wrong?” He asks, running his hands over me and I blink, trying to clear the tears from my eyes.
“So, I’ll be leaving today?” I ask and his eyes search mine.
“You can. If you want.”
His answer seems weird and I look away.
“What if I don’t want to?” I whisper and Beau’s fingers tighten on my shoulders.
“You want to stay here?” He asks quietly, like he’s afraid that if he says it too loud, I might change my mind.
“Do you want me to leave? To go to Wisconsin?” I ask instead.
“No. I never want you to leave. The only reason I was going to fix your car was because I didn’t want you to feel like I was keeping you hostage here.”
“I like being here with you. And Ford,” I hurry to add when he scoots closer to us in bed.
“I love you, Holly. This might be a terrible thing to say but I am so glad that you slid off the road. I wasn’t looking for you or to have this kind of relationship with someone but now that I’ve found you, I can’t let you go. I love you. I don’t know why you would want to stay here with a grinch like me but I’m not going to try to talk you out of it. I need you. So yes, I want you to stay. I need you to stay.”
“I love you too,” I say as the tears slip free and I wrap myself around him in bed.
His lips are on mine the next second and I find myself flat on my back in the middle of the bed a second after that.
“You can work at the shop. I’ve been meaning to hire someone to take care of the office stuff but I won’t find anyone better than you.”
“Okay,” I say through giggles and more kisses.
I feel a wet tongue lick my cheek and I look over to see Ford happily wagging his tail next to us.
“I think he has to go outside,” I tell Beau and he groans.
“Damn dog is cock blocking me,” he mumbles against my ear and I laugh harder.
Beau gets out of bed and heads down the hall with Ford hot on his heels and I roll over onto my stomach and watch them. I can’t remember the last time I was this happy or felt this complete.
Sure, it’s not the fancy house and Beau sure isn’t the sophisticated man that I used to fantasize that I’d end with when I was a little girl. He’s rough around the edges and can be a little grumpy but I love him. I love that I can make him happy, can help to soften those sharp edges.
This thing that I found is so much different than all those day dreams when I was younger.
It’s better.
This is real.
Eleven
Beau
* * *
One Year Later…
* * *
“You heard me tell her to wait this morning, right?” I ask Ford as I close down Mistletoe Mechanic Shop and we head across the street to home.
I can already see the Christmas decorations from here and I chuckle to myself. I knew that my wife wouldn’t be able to wait until tonight to get started.
It’s the day after Thanksgiving and she had made me dig out all of the decorations last night, saying that she just wanted to make sure that we have everything but we both knew that was a lie. I had woken this morning to her untangling strings but I had made her promise that she would wait until tonight so that I could help her. She’s eight months pregnant and I can’t have her standing on chairs trying to hang up mistletoe or string lights.
We got married here in town right after New Year’s. Holly had said that she wanted a winter wedding and I lived to make all of her dreams come true. Besides, it wasn’t like I wanted to wait that long to make her mine.
We found out that she was pregnant a few weeks after Valentine’s Day. I had been terrified but Holly took it in stride. Before I knew it, she had cleared out my childhood bedroom and we were painting the walls and picking out baby furniture and clothes.
Our son will be here at the end of December and we’re still trying to figure out a name. Holly wants it to be Christmas-y since that’s when we met. As long as they’re both healthy, Holly can name him whatever she wants.
I didn’t know that it was possible to love someone that you had never even met but that’s how I feel about the little guy already. Holly has us reading to him every night and Ford likes to cuddle up next to us with his head on Holly’s stomach. I think he’s just as excited about meeting the newest member of our family as we are.
“You better not be standing on that stool,” I say as I enter the house and Holly comes around the corner right away.
“No, I left all of the high up stuff for you,” she says, leaning up on her tiptoes and giving me a kiss.
“The house looks good,” I say as I survey the boxes of Christmas decorations that look like they’ve exploded in our living room.
Tinsel and garland are stacked haphazardly on the coffee table. Boxes of ornaments are in the corner, waiting for us to pick out our tree. Lights are draped over the couch and chair and she somehow managed to inflate the reindeer and sleigh from last year in front of the tv.
“What do you need help with?” I ask as I step around her and head over to finish untangling some lights.
“Well, you could grab the hospital bag out of the bedroom and drive me to the hospital,” Holly says slowly and I turn and really take her in.
I don’t know how I could have missed how flushed she looks, or the pinched look around her mouth and the slight pain in her eyes. She has one hand on her round belly and the other is rubbing circles at the base of her spine.