After the Christmas Party...

by Janice Lynn

  “Keep going,” he insisted, crossing his arms over his chest. But his eyes had lost the cloudiness that had hidden away the sparkle she loved. Now that sparkle had come back and gave her strength. If she wanted this, wanted him, she was going to have to confront her fears, not let them overpower her the way they had for the entire day, for years. “You aren’t going to make this easy, are you?”

  “Lady, when I finally have you admitting that you care about me and want me in your life, you’d better believe that I’m going to keep pushing.”

  “I…” She shrugged. “I didn’t know why you were so nice to me, why you wanted me, why you chose me. I thought maybe I was just another charity case.”

  “Why wouldn’t I choose you? You’re everything to me. All day I’ve kidded myself that we were a mistake, that we should just call it quits, that I could let you go because I’m not a forever kind of man. But from the time you drove away, I knew I couldn’t ever call it quits with you.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know what to do, Trinity. I never saw myself as marrying or having kids. Not with my career. I didn’t want to be one of those dads.” He paused. “I didn’t want to be my dad.”

  “Your dad?” she asked, reeling at all he’d admitted, reeling that he’d said he loved her.

  “He worked all the time, was always gone. That’s why Christmas is so special to my family. It was the one and only time of the year that my dad didn’t work. We had a day of him being with us, playing with us, with us being the center of his attention for an entire day. When the holiday was over, he was back at work and we rarely saw him until the following Christmas. I don’t mean to whine. I know I was blessed. He was a good man, provided a good living for his family.” Riley shrugged. “It’s just that it seemed he was only there as part of our family at Christmas.”

  “Him working so hard allowed your mother to always be there for you kids, though.”

  “You’re right,” Riley agreed. “I know that in my head.”

  “But in your heart?”

  “In my heart, I don’t want to be like him.”

  “Which is?”

  “A husband whose wife was lonely. A father whose children longed for his presence. A man I only have good memories of from Christmas.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said, and meant it. “But at least you do have those memories. And now I understand why Christmas is so important to you, to your family.”

  Riley nodded. “The first few Christmases after he’d died, my mother was devastated. My brother and sisters and I decided we were going to make sure to always be there for Christmas, to spend a good portion of the day with her, to bring her as much joy as possible.”

  “I’d say you were a success. She couldn’t stop smiling and laughing today.”

  “But the other woman I wanted to bring as much joy as possible to wasn’t smiling and laughing today. Not with me.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck, hugged him tightly to her. “I’m sorry, Riley. I was confused, and last night…last night blew me away.”

  “Last night blew both of us away.” He touched her cheek. “I’ve been doing all the chasing, Trinity, and you’ve been doing a lot of running.” He gestured to her gift. “You said you weren’t a glass slipper kind of girl, that you wanted pink hightops so you could run. When you need to run, run to me, Trinity.”

  Her eyes misted and she put her palms against his face. “It may take me a while to get my head on straight at times, but I will always run to you. You’re my star.”

  He stared down at her in question.

  “The star that leads me where I need to be.”

  He smiled. “I hope so.”

  She took a deep breath, rested her forehead against his chin. “For however long you want me, I’m yours, Riley.”

  “Then you’re going to be mine for ever.” He took her in his arms, kissed her. “Please, don’t ever shut me out again the way you did today. My youngest sister could tell I was in love with you. She commented on how much when we were talking today.”

  That was what his sister had said?

  “You told her that you’d made a mistake, that you regretted bringing me.”

  “You heard that?” He hugged her. “Our timing was off. We needed today, just you and me figuring out what happened last night and making sure we didn’t do anything to mess up it happening again and again. But I couldn’t cancel Christmas with my family. I just shouldn’t have coerced you into going with me.”

  “I understand. I wouldn’t have wanted you to have canceled. As a matter of fact, what I kept thinking was that I wanted what you had. That I wanted to be a part of that family, to experience the warmth and love of what Christmas should be.” She stood on tiptoe and pressed a kiss to his lips. “You are what Christmas and love should be.”

  Riley kissed her long and hard. “My heart is yours, princess. I don’t have all the answers to our future, but I’m yours every day for the rest of my life.”

  Her breath caught. “Really?”

  “Really.” His eyes catching on something behind her, he swept her up off her feet, carried her over to the tree then sat her down. “There’s something I want to do.”

  Seeing what his gaze had caught on, she knew what he was going to do. Her heart swelled.

  He pulled a chair over and she automatically sat down. He dropped to one knee and picked up the other hightop.

  “Thank you for this.” She spread out her arms towards the tree. “You make a great Santa.”

  He shook his head. “Wrong guy.”

  She arched a brow, not quite sure what he meant.

  “I’m not going for Santa in your life.”

  “What are you going for in my life?”

  He grinned and slipped the other shoe onto her foot. “I’m your Prince Charming, of course. Your right Prince Charming.”

  “My one and only Prince Charming,” she assured him, touching his arm.

  “I like the sound of that.”

  “But, Riley, I should tell you.”

  “Yes?”

  “You’re my Santa, too.”

  “Oh?”

  She nodded. “Every day I’m with you is like Christmas.”

  “You’re the one who is a gift, princess. You’ve made my life better.”

  “Hey, I have a gift for you, too,” she recalled, jumping up and rushing to the drawer where she’d stashed his gift.

  Smiling, she handed him the bag.

  He eyed it suspiciously. “You used a bag rather than wrapping paper?”

  She grinned. “I bought this before my wrapping lesson.”

  He pulled out the paper and lifted out a box about the size of his hand. What was inside made him burst out laughing.

  And had his eyes shining brightly.

  “It’s perfect.”

  “I thought you’d think so, snowflake.”

  Holding the ornament as if it was the most precious treasure, he smiled at her, love in his eyes. “I love you, Trinity.”

  Her heart swelled with Christmas joy, with love. She leaned forward and planted a kiss on his lips. “I love you, too. Thank you for my best Christmas ever.”

  He grinned. “Until next year’s.”

  EPILOGUE

  CHRISTMAS DAY A year later, Trinity wasn’t so sure Riley had topped the previous year’s Christmas. As a matter of fact, at the moment she wasn’t even sure she liked him. Or that she’d ever allow him to touch her again.

  She moaned with pain.

  There was just something about this day.

  “Come on, sweetheart, you’re almost there.”

  Okay, so she probably would let him. After all, she did love him with all her heart and was loved by all of his heart.

  “Breathe, honey.”

  She was breathing. Trinity grimaced at her husband, who dabbed at her sweaty face with a washcloth. Her calm, patient, always-positive husband who had brought so much joy into her life. So much happiness. So much security and magic.
<
br />   He’d given her Christmas.

  And so much more.

  “When the next contraction hits,” the obstetrician said, “and when I tell you, I want you to push as hard as you can.”

  She felt as if she’d been pushing for hours, but in reality not that much time had gone by. She’d woken up during the middle of Christmas Eve night, had found Riley missing from bed and had gone to look for him. Not surprisingly, she’d found him beneath their Christmas tree, playing Santa.

  What had been surprising was that before she’d been able to say anything she’d felt a gush of liquid between her legs. A gush of amniotic fluid as her waters had broken.

  According to the clock on the wall, it was barely nine on Christmas morning. She was in the hospital. With her husband, The pink hightops she’d insisted on wearing digging into the stirrups. With their soon-to-be-born baby on its way. And their family anxious in the waiting area. The entire Williams clan.

  “Push, Trinity,” Riley encouraged, clasping her hand and focusing on her. “Look at me and push.”

  She tried to look at him but kept squeezing her eyes closed in pain as she attempted to turn her insides out.

  “Breathe, baby. Breathe.”

  Breathe. Push. Pant.

  Trinity felt a gut-wrenching pain then horrendous pressure.

  “The baby’s head is out,” the doctor praised. “There’s lots of hair.”

  Another contraction, a few more pushes and Trinity cried.

  “You have a baby girl,” the obstetrician informed them. “Congratulations.”

  “A girl.” Riley said the words with absolute wonder. “We have a daughter.”

  Exhausted, but amazed at the man smiling at her with all the love a man had ever felt for any woman shining in his eyes, Trinity nodded. “A girl, born on Christmas Day.”

  “The most precious gift anyone has ever given me.”

  Trinity tried to point out that Riley was the one who’d given her the precious gift of their daughter.

  “Joy Noelle Williams.”

  Trinity glanced down at the baby in her arms. “I have this feeling that my role as princess is going to be booted by this little sweetheart.” She smiled at the man who’d brought so much joy into her life. Who’d made her part of his family, given her a family of her own. “I think you may have a hard time topping this year.”

  “Perhaps in your delicate condition you’ve forgotten, but I’m a man who aims to please, so just you wait and see.”

  Her eyes widened because she recognized that determined look on his face.

  He just grinned. “Merry Christmas, darling.”

  ISBN: 9781472003515

  AFTER THE CHRISTMAS PARTY…

  © Janice Lynn 2013

  First Published in Great Britain in 2013

  Harlequin (UK) Limited

  Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

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