Merry Ever After

by Vi Keeland, Penelope Ward, Lucy Score, Marie Force, Tijan, Kennedy Ryan

  “I’ll grab them for you. What color are you thinking with that suit? The brown or the black?”

  He stared at me like I had two heads. “What moron would wear black with this?”

  I smiled. “Brown it is.”

  Pops had a ton of clothes packed into the small closet in his room. The bottom of which was lined with old school wingtips. I took out a brown pair and pulled a chair up to the bed before helping him turn to face me.

  We talked as I slipped on his shoes and took out the shoeshine kit that was always in his bedside table.

  “I like a high shine.” Pops pointed to his shoes. “So I can see my pretty face when I look down. Did you hear the one about the guy who gets his shoes shined and goes dancing at a club?”

  I chuckled and shook my head. The human brain was pretty damn amazing. Pops couldn’t remember that I was his grandson, but he could remember a shit ton of dirty jokes. I actually hadn’t heard this one yet, but if he was telling it, I knew where this story was going.

  “Nope, I don’t think I’ve heard that one.”

  “Guy gets his shoes buffed so tight, they’re like a mirror, and then goes to the club. He dances with the first woman, trying to impress her, and says ‘I bet I know your favorite color.’ He looks down into his shiny shoe reflection and says, ‘red.’ The woman is impressed. Little while later, he dances with a second woman…guesses her favorite color is blue. Then he dances with a third woman—looks down and grows perplexed. The woman notices and asks, ‘What’s the matter?’ He says, ‘What color panties are you wearing?’ The woman responds, ‘I’m not wearing any.’ Guy says, “Oh thank God, I thought my new shoes were cracked.”

  The two of us laughed. When I was almost done with Pops’ shoeshine, he said, “I’m going to open a store that sells suits someday. Good ones that fit right, imported from Italy. You should set up your stand outside. That’ll be a gold mine for you…men who spend on a good suit don’t like scuffed shoes.”

  I didn’t have the heart to tell him that he had opened up a store that sold suits—and then another, then another, then another—and eventually they expanded from men’s clothes to women’s, then to children’s. Today Kline’s even carried makeup, home goods, and had a small section of toys, like the robot sitting in my car parked outside. “That’s a great idea. I think I’ll do that.”

  Even though Pops had appeared lucid for the last fifteen minutes, after I put away the shoeshine kit and came back from washing up, he looked over at me and asked, “Are you the shoeshine boy?”

  I smiled sadly. “Yeah, I am.”

  Rena came by a little while later. Pops had lost interest in talking and was back to staring at the TV. “Bryce? I should be getting Mr. Kline changed for bed.”

  I nodded. “Okay, Rena.”

  I said goodbye to Pops and walked down the hall with Rena toward the exit. “How was your visit?” she asked.

  “He thinks I’m the shoeshine boy.”

  Rena smiled. “That man can forget his own name, but he will never forget his style. He must’ve cut the women back in his day with how sharp he looked.”

  “Yeah, he was something else. Didn’t matter if he was going to the supermarket, he wore his suit.”

  “Your sister came by earlier. She said you were over at one of the stores playing Santa. Is that true?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. Every Christmas season Pops used to put on a Santa suit and beard and play Santa in one of his stores—taking pictures for the kids who came. He loved doing it. When he started to grow forgetful, and couldn’t do it anymore, I filled in for him. I’ve done it the last eight years on Christmas Eve.”

  “The staff must get a kick out of that.”

  Sadly, unlike Pops, who everyone knew by name, most people didn’t even recognize me as one of the owners of Kline’s. I spent most of my time at the corporate office. But that anonymity worked for me today. No way would that manager have suggested Holly and I compete for the right to buy a robot if she had known who I was. Of course, I could’ve told her and walked out with the toy, but for some reason, I didn’t. “They enjoyed it much more when Pops did it. He really got into character for it.”

  She smiled. “I bet he did.”

  At the door, I thanked Rena and told her I’d be back tomorrow to visit again. The snow was really starting to come down heavy now, so when I got into my car, I considered just going home. But then I looked over at the robot sitting on the passenger seat and thought about the little boy I’d met today. This thing would probably make his year…so what the hell, I’d go slow and try to make a kid smile on Christmas Eve, just like Pops would if he could.

  Holly

  Some Christmas Eve this turned out to be. At least we were home.

  After the doctors checked Mason out for any neurological damage, he got the all clear to leave the hospital. While he had hit his head crashing into a barrier, apparently there was no lasting damage. Thank God. I couldn’t imagine something happening to my son; he was my entire world.

  Rather than head back to my sister’s so late, Mason and I headed home on the snowy roads to have a quiet, late Christmas Eve together. I’d let him stay up a little later tonight, and then after he went to bed, I’d play Santa and lay out all the gifts I had wrapped and hidden under my bed.

  Unfortunately, the one gift he wanted wouldn’t be under the tree. After everything he’d been through tonight, I wished he could’ve woken up to the surprise of the robot. I’d have to explain to him that Santa Claus promised to make a special trip back after Christmas to bring him one. I had it all planned out. I would write a little note in “Santa’s” writing and leave it next to the cookie crumbs that were left behind. My son always left cookies out for Santa, and I’d always enjoyed them as a midnight snack. Ever since my husband died, I’d used those little late-night moments to talk to him while I sat there alone, eating the cookies and staring at the lights on the tree. It had become my own private tradition. A sad one at that.

  It was now 9:30, and Mason and I had just taken the cookies out of the oven. I’d told him he had to go to bed after we finished baking. The air filled with the smell of molten chocolate.

  He jumped up and down. “Can I have one now?”

  “We need to wait for them to cool first.”

  Several minutes later, Mason enjoyed three cookies with a tall glass of milk before we prepared a plate for Santa and left it on a small table next to the tree.

  Then, I tucked my son into bed, hugging him a bit tighter than usual. To ensure he didn’t wake up while I was placing the gifts under the tree, I always reminded him that Santa needed him to be asleep in order to safely come in unseen. It always baffled me how easily kids bought into the whole Santa Claus thing. I kept wondering when Mason would figure it out. He was seven, which was about the age that I discovered the truth. But I was happy it hadn’t happened yet, because I was certainly in no rush to have him grow up.

  Just as I’d finished the process of moving the presents from under my bed to the living room, the doorbell rang.

  Adrenaline coursed through me. I hadn’t been expecting anyone, and a horrible feeling of déjà vu hit as I remembered the police coming to my door to tell me that my husband had been killed in an accident.

  My heart raced as I peeked through the peephole.

  The man who met my eyes was perhaps the last person I ever expected.

  It was Bryce, the gorgeous man from Kline’s.

  What?

  And he was holding a large, wrapped box.

  My heart pounded.

  The robot?

  How did he find me?

  I opened as a rush of frigid wind hit me in the face.

  “Bryce! How did you know where I lived?”

  His eyes widened. Cold air billowed from his mouth as he just stood there for several seconds. Then he finally said, “You live here?”

  “Yes. I can’t believe you found me, and that you brought…the robot?”

  “Yeah…”
He blinked.

  “I can’t thank you enough. Did you feel sorry for me because of what happened? I don’t know what to—”

  “I can’t believe this.” He just kept shaking his head.

  In my stunned state, I hadn’t even invited him in from the cold. So I stepped aside. “Please. Come in. Just keep your voice low. My son is sleeping.”

  Bryce placed the wrapped present under the tree, then turned to me. “I hope the doorbell didn’t wake him.”

  “He’s a pretty heavy sleeper overall, and I don’t hear him. So, I think we’re good.” I exhaled. “How on Earth did you find me?”

  He looked a bit dazed. “Holly…I’m in total shock right now.”

  “Why?”

  “I didn’t think I was coming to see you. I thought I was dropping off the toy to the little boy I’d promised it to.”

  For a few seconds, I was totally confused. Until it started to click.

  “Are you saying my son is the boy you were trying to win the robot for?”

  “If he’s Mason Gallagher at this address, yes.” Bryce smiled. “He visited Santa Claus at Kline’s earlier today, right?”

  My eyeballs moved from side to side. “Yes. My sister took him.”

  He nodded. “I told you earlier my family owned a chain of stores. We own Kline’s, actually. I left that little bit of info out. Every year, I volunteer to be Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. Today when I was in my suit, a little boy sat on my lap and told me how sad he was that his dad wasn’t around on Christmas.”

  I covered my mouth. “Oh my God.”

  “He wasn’t specific as to what happened, whether his father had died or was just not around. But it really hit me hard. I asked him what he wanted for Christmas this year, and he told me that he just wanted his mom to be happy, that it made him sad to see her cry over the holidays. That touched me even more, because most of the kids always have a list of material items at the ready when you ask them what they want.”

  Oh my heart.

  “He’s a special kid,” I said.

  “He insisted that he just wanted his mom to be happy again. I told him I really admired him for that. But because that’s obviously not something I could promise him, I didn’t quite know how to react. Before he left, I said to him, ‘are you sure there isn’t anything I can bring you?’ And he was really funny. He said, ‘well, if you insist…the only toy I really want this year is the TechBot.’ He then blurted out his address, and I knew that I had to get it for him. But with so little time on Christmas Eve, I couldn’t pull any strings. Whether I owned the store or not, there just weren’t any left. So after I changed out of the Santa suit, I decided to check the shelves just to be sure. And that was when we met.”

  I looked up into his gorgeous baby blues. “I’m blown away. I don’t even know what to say.”

  He shut his eyes momentarily. “I’m sorry. I was so shocked to see you that I didn’t even ask how your son is doing?”

  “He’s fine, thankfully. No serious damage from the impact. We were lucky that the hospital wasn’t too busy. We were cleared and discharged fairly quickly.”

  “I’m relieved to hear that.” He blew out a breath. “I’d been looking for your contact information all night, ever since you left the store.”

  Scratching my head, I said, “Wait, I’m confused. If you didn’t know I was Mason’s mother, why were you looking for me?”

  “After you told me about your husband dying on Christmas, I decided you deserved to win the robot. I made a decision to give it to you either way, but you left before I could tell you. I scoured the Internet for your name, and nothing came up in the area. I finally decided to go with the original plan, to give it to the boy from the store since I couldn’t find you. I figured, at least that way, someone would get their Christmas wish.”

  My cheeks burned from embarrassment. “I’m a bit ashamed to say that I gave you a fake last name, Bryce. When you asked me…it was sort of right before the point where I started to trust you a little. I made a split-second decision, and it was the wrong one.”

  He nodded. “Okay, so you’re not Holly Johanssen. That explains a lot.”

  “Johanssen was actually my grandmother’s maiden name. But it’s not mine.”

  “Holly is your actual name, though?”

  “I can understand why you would doubt that, but yes, it is.” I sighed. “And again, I’m so sorry for making that asinine decision.”

  “You’re Holly Gallagher…” he said.

  I smiled. “Yes.”

  “So, my Holly Holloway joke wasn’t in vain, then.”

  I chuckled. “No.”

  “Well, that’s good, at least.”

  I looked over at the robot he’d placed under the tree. “I just realized you wrapped that yourself.”

  “How did you know?”

  “Because it’s horrible.” I started to laugh, but then suddenly tears sprung to my eyes out of nowhere.

  “Did I upset you?” he asked.

  “No.” I wiped my eyes. “I’m pretty sure they’re tears of joy. Because you’ve seriously made me so happy tonight.”

  “Well…I’m glad. Truly. You’ve been through a lot. It makes my entire Christmas to know that I could bring some happiness to your holiday.”

  A whiff of his delicious, manly scent wafted in my direction. There was no way I wanted to send this guy back out into the cold just yet.

  “Do you have somewhere else to be?”

  “I left my family party earlier, and probably won’t be heading back. I was just gonna head home.”

  “Can I make you a cup of hot cocoa or something?”

  His mouth spread into a smile. “I would seriously love that.”

  “Make yourself comfortable. I’ll be right back.”

  A chill ran down my spine as I made my way to the kitchen. I had a hard time believing that things happen for a reason, especially after the way my husband died. What was the reason for that, you know? It was totally unfair and nonsensical. So, in general, I’d always felt the idea of fate was one big lie. But something about this night certainly felt like fate. What were the chances that my son and the boy he had encountered were one and the same?

  When I returned to the living room, I asked, “I hope you like marshmallows?”

  “I do. Thank you,” he said as he took the mug from me.

  I sat about a foot away from him on the couch and sipped my hot chocolate. “I’m sorry for running out the way I did,” I said. “Once I realized Mason was fine and I had a moment to grab my bearings, I thought about you a lot tonight and really regretted the fact that I’d likely never see you again.”

  “Well, I guess we were meant to connect from the start. It’s funny to think that even if our competition hadn’t happened, I would’ve still shown up here tonight either way.”

  I grinned. “That’s true, but I’m glad it happened this way. Because I might not have had the nerve to invite you in if I hadn’t met you before now.”

  He put his mug down on the coffee table. “Can I ask you a personal question?”

  “Yeah…”

  “You said you haven’t dated much since your husband died?”

  I looked down into my cocoa and shook my head. “No, I haven’t.”

  “Before you left, I was going to ask you out, but I also wondered if that was even something you would consider…” He grabbed his mug again and took a sip.

  I finally looked up at him. “I don’t want to be alone forever. I’ve considered getting back into the game. I do get…lonely.” I immediately regretted being so honest. But for some reason, I felt like opening up tonight.

  “If you don’t mind my saying, it’s a damn shame for a woman like you to ever feel lonely. After you left, I seriously couldn’t think about anything else but your beautiful face.”

  Goosebumps prickled on the skin of my arms. “Thank you.”

  “If the accident hadn’t happened and I had asked you out earlier, what would you hav
e said—pending my giving up the robot fight, of course…”

  I didn’t really have to think much about my answer.

  “I would have said yes, and then I would’ve told you my last name wasn’t really Johanssen.”

  He smiled from behind his mug. “Good to know.”

  The lights from the tree reflected on his face, making Bryce’s eyes sparkle.

  I grabbed the plate of cookies from the small table next to the tree. “Would you like one? These are technically for Santa. But seeing as though you’re basically him this year…you deserve the whole plate.”

  “I’ll share them with you?” he said.

  “Sure.”

  We sat in comfortable silence, devouring the plate of cookies. I’d told him to eat over the dish to intentionally drop some crumbs. Mason always looked forward to seeing Santa’s remnants. It dawned on me that this was the first year since Will’s death that I hadn’t eaten these cookies alone in sadness. It felt good to have someone to share them with.

  After we finished, Bryce suddenly stood up.

  “I could stay here all night, Holly. I really love being around you. But I know you’ve had a long day. I’m sure you want to get some rest if your son is gonna wake up early. If he’s anything like my nieces and nephews, he’ll be up at the crack of dawn.”

  I really didn’t want him to leave. But I also didn’t want to tell him to stay because that might have seemed desperate. I thought of another approach to spending more time with him.

  “What are you doing for breakfast tomorrow?”

  He shrugged. “The elves and I were going to have Fruit Loops together, but I could totally ditch them.”

  “Would you want to stop by…to meet Mason? I’d explain to him that you’re a friend. That way you can see him enjoying your gift.”

  “I would love to see you tomorrow, Holly, and meet him—formally.”

  “Say 9AM?”

  “I’ll be there with bells on—jingle bells, of course.” He winked.

  Bryce

  Despite the frigid air, my palms were sweaty as I stood in front of Holly’s door on Christmas morning.