by Meg Easton
He reached down into the sack and pulled out a present wrapped in beautiful red and gold paper with a tag that read Kelli and placed it under the tree. “This one isn’t actually from me, but you once accused me of practically gift wrapping it and putting it under the tree with your name on it, so it felt appropriate to do just that.”
She gasped and stared at him for one heartbeat before grabbing the present and opening it. A plain box was inside, and she lifted off the lid to see a single piece of paper that looked like a certificate and read, The grand prize winner of our Christmas contest is Kelli Ellis! And, as the winner, is hereby awarded three extra vacation days, parking space C7 for a full year, and lunch for her team every week for a year. It was signed by Merit Casselman and Graham McNeil.
Her eyes flew to Parker. “I won?”
He grinned. “Of course. No one could come close to doing all you did.”
She leaned back against her headboard. “So I get you and parking spot C7, all in the same day.”
He leaned forward and gave her the sweetest kiss on the forehead. “And you get my grandma’s famous ‘Cold Begone.’” She gave him a questioning look, and he bent down and picked up one of the bags he brought. “It’s a warm drink with honey, lemon, apple cider vinegar, cayenne, and ginger. Not only will it speed up your recovery time, but it’ll make your throat feel better practically instantly.”
“No offense, but that sounds pretty gross.”
He smiled big again, showing off those dimples. “I know, but it isn’t. Trust me. I’ll even drink a cup with you.” Then he walked out of the room, and she could hear him doing things in the kitchen. He hadn’t even brought her the warm drink yet, and already her chest felt warm, just knowing that she and Parker were going to work out.
He came back a few minutes later, holding two mugs, still steaming, and she scooted over in her bed. He handed her one mug and then sat beside her, putting an arm around her shoulder. She snuggled into him, just like she had on the carriage ride, laying her head on his shoulder and cradling the mug in her hands.
She smelled the drink—it didn’t smell awful. But still, she waited until he took a drink and watched his face for any signs of it being awful. When she saw none, she blew on hers.
But before she took a sip, he said, “Wait. Hang on.” He put the mug on her nightstand, then pulled out his phone and opened the browser, then set it between them and picked up his mug again. It was the official New Year countdown, and it only had about thirty seconds before the year would end and a fresh new one, full of possibilities, would rush in. When only ten seconds were left, they counted down together.
Right as the New Year started, they clinked their mugs of Cold Begone together and each took a sip. It wasn’t exactly sparkling champagne, but to her surprise, it actually tasted good and made her aching throat rejoice.
Parker kissed her temple, his warm, soft lips pressing into her skin so gently and so sweetly it made her sigh. “Happy New Year, Kelli,” he whispered, and she knew it would be.
Epilogue
Parker felt like he’d waited his entire life for this day. Guests were filing in and taking their seats on both sides of the aisle, his bride-to-be was in the bride’s room with his mom and Valeria, he was surrounded by loved ones, and his tux fit perfectly. The excitement bubbling up in him to see Kelli walking down the aisle was too much to contain, so he went from person to person, chatting, hoping that would use some of the energy.
His dad put his hand on his shoulder to get his attention. “We’re going to go say hello to the Garlands.” Parker nodded and smiled as his dad and Ethan, who was now as tall as he was, headed over to greet their family friends just as Kelli’s dad, Richard, stepped over to him.
“With as many last-minute hiccups we’ve had, it looks like this is coming together.”
“It is.” Parker looked around the venue that was filled with white Christmas trees, the lights on them casting a warm glow through the room, and he definitely felt some Christmas magic at work. He had always wanted to get married at Christmastime, and since that’s when they had fallen in love, it felt exactly right.
He turned to his soon-to-be father-in-law. “Thanks again for agreeing to be my best man. It means a lot to both of us.”
Richard nodded. “Thank you for asking me. It means a lot to me as well.”
He gave the man a hug. The two of them had come a long way in the past year. Although Parker still thought her dad had made a terrible mistake by not celebrating last Christmas with his daughter, he was hardly the only one making mistakes. Parker had been so worried that Kelli had been setting herself up to get hurt again, but he knew now how much he should trust her judgment on matters like that. Giving people the benefit of the doubt the way she did had made his life richer as well.
Besides, if Richard hadn’t left Kelli alone last Christmas, the two of them might not have ever gotten past their own fears enough to even go out on a second date. So maybe he should’ve been thanking the man all along.
As Richard went off toward JoAnn, Parker found himself pulled toward the other three men in tuxes: Valeria’s husband, Rhett, who had become his best friend over the past year, and Merit and Graham. He shook their hands and thanked them for being part of the wedding party.
Merit was wearing a wedding ring now, which made Parker smile. Baby Hope was now a toddler who was walking around, charming everyone in the room. Both men were beaming, yet looking so relaxed and carefree.
“Were you guys as wired as I am when you got married? You all look so calm.”
“I was wired,” Rhett said.
“Me, too,” Merit said.
“But being a groomsman is easier,” Graham said, “We’re practically pros at it.”
Graham and Merit shared a mischievous smile that made him wonder how many couples the two of them had actually had a hand in getting together. He knew that Joy and Thomas had gotten married in the fall, and Addison and Davis had a date set for next summer. Three couples getting married, all because of the same Christmas retreat. And Merit and Graham had been doing the retreat for years.
“When do you leave for this year’s retreat?” he asked them.
Merit answered. “Tomorrow morning, bright and early. We are headed to the Royal Palm again, and I can’t wait.”
“Me, neither,” Graham said. “We’ve got another good group joining us.”
Parker chuckled, wondering if any of the people in that group had any idea what they were in for.
He felt a buzz from his phone, so he pulled it out of his pocket and then excused himself from the group. It was a text from Kelli and read, I’m nervous.
He typed back, Having second thoughts?
A year ago, he might’ve been afraid to ask that question. But now he could ask it, knowing that she would take it as light-hearted joke. Now he was confident enough in their relationship, and confident enough to know that he always put Kelli first and would know if anything was going off track, long before it became a problem.
Haha. Not that kind of nervous.
Come into the bride’s room?
You want me to see you in your wedding dress?
Isn’t that bad luck or something?
But he was already on his way to the bride’s room. He’d wanted this wedding to be absolutely perfect for Kelli, but, of course, everything didn’t go according to plan. When the flowers arrived, they were missing a boutonniere, several trips had to be made to run back and grab something that was forgotten, one of the tiers on the wedding cake was dropped and practically exploded when it hit the floor, one of the band members got sick, and an entire tray of food was dropped at the rehearsal dinner.
But they pulled together pieces from the other flowers and made another boutonniere, retrieved everything they needed, made the cake look incredible with one less tier, the band found a substitute, they enjoyed the meal served family-style at the rehearsal dinner, and his bride was happy through it all, which was all that mattered.
<
br /> We already used up all our bad luck.
There’s nothing but twinkle lights and Christmas magic from here on out.
So come. Calm a girl’s nerves.
He was already at the door, knocking.
Valeria opened the door, wearing her pale gold maid of honor gown, smiling. “I’ll leave you two alone.” Then she turned her head back to Kelli and said, “I’ll be waiting in my spot with your sisters. Don’t forget to put that lipstick on before you come out.”
Then Valeria walked out the door and Parker stepped into the room to where he could see his bride next to his mother. Kelli stood in front of the full-length mirrors, that smile he loved lighting up her beautiful face and nearly blinding him to anything else. Her hair was a cascade of curls spilling down her back, and her white dress hugged her figure down to her hips before flaring out. She stood tall and confident, shoulders back, looking like a dream come true and quite literally taking his breath away.
His mom turned to Kelli, putting her hands on Kelli’s shoulders, and smiled. “Only a few more minutes, and I get a daughter! I’m so happy I’m going to cry!”
“Don’t do it,” Kelli warned, brushing a fingertip under her eye.
His mom ran a finger under her own eye, banishing any threatening tears. “I won’t. Okay, I’ll leave you two alone. Remember, next time you see me, I’m ‘Mom’ to you.”
The two women hugged, and then his mom gave him a smile before ducking out of the room.
“Wow, Kells. You look incredible.”
Her smile was brilliant. The only hint that she was experiencing any nervousness was the way she ran the tip of her thumb over the tips of her first two fingers at her side. In three strides, he was next to her, lifting that hand with his, brushing a kiss across her knuckles. Then he turned her hand slightly and kissed the inside of her wrist. “Tell me what’s making you nervous.”
She stared at him for a moment, like she’d forgotten her train of thought, and he loved that she still reacted to his touch like that.
Then she glanced toward the door. “I don’t know. There’s just a lot of people out there. I’m afraid I’ll trip over my dress and fall or something.” She lifted it up a bit, as if to show that the length and the bulk could be problematic.
“You won’t fall. Your dad will be at your side and he has your back—he always does. Besides, even if you trip a little, we still get to be married in less than thirty minutes.”
Her grin was as wide as he was sure that his was. This was really happening. Soon.
“True. The only thing that actually needs to be perfect is my choice on who to marry. And I’m one hundred percent sure I made the perfect decision.”
“I know I did.” He closed the gap even more and wrapped his arms around her waist as she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck. She played with the hair at his neck, and the touch sent even more electricity coursing through his body, as if he hadn’t already had more than he knew what to do with. “So how can I help with those nerves?”
A corner of her lip twitched up. “There’s a reason why I don’t have lipstick on yet.”
She pulled him closer to her, and he responded by closing the little bit of space between them, pressing his lips against hers. It didn’t matter that they had been together for a year—a kiss from Kelli made his breath catch and his knees weak every time. He couldn’t imagine anything being better than spending the rest of his life with Kelli. The love he felt for her had grown more every single day, filling him to bursting, and he couldn’t wait to see what tomorrow brought. Or the next year. Or the next ten years, or fifty, or seventy-five years.
And he would get to spend them all with a woman as amazing as Kelli.
She deepened the kiss, and he pulled her closer, their bodies pressed together from their chests nearly down to their feet, and he never wanted to let go.
But then there was a knock at the door before it opened a bit and Richard poked his head in. “Are you ready, Kelli?”
She pulled back from Parker just enough that he could see her beautiful face and that smile that felt like it was made for him. “As much as I’d like you to stay in here forever, I don’t want anything to delay you becoming my husband.”
He grinned and gave her one last peck on the lips, then headed toward the door. Right before he walked out, he called back, “Don’t forget the lipstick.”
“Oh! I nearly did!”
He chuckled.
A few minutes later, he was standing at the altar as his groomsmen walked up the aisle with Valeria as Kelli’s maid of honor and her three sisters, who she had managed to form a pretty tight bond with, as bridesmaids. When they had all gotten in their spots facing the guests, the wedding march sounded, and everyone turned as Richard walked Kelli up the aisle.
At one point, Kelli’s foot caught on her dress and she faltered just a bit, but her dad held her arm firmly, so it was barely noticeable. She gave Parker a wink, and he knew that no matter how either of them stumbled through their lives, everything would be okay if they had each other.
And as she reached the front and he took her hands in his as they looked into each other’s eyes, grinning like kids at Christmas, he knew that life was going to be imperfect, but that was okay. They were perfect for each other, and that was all that mattered.
Author’s note:
I hope you enjoyed reading Kelli’s and Parker’s story as much as I enjoyed writing it!
Will you please leaving a review for this book on Amazon? It greatly helps other readers decide which books might be ones they’ll fall in love with. Thank you, truly.
If haven’t read Meg’s other book that is set at The Royal Palm Resort, A Kiss at Midsummer (Merit’s and Elise’s story), you can get it here.
I have another series set in Nestled Hollow, Colorado. You can check out the books in that series here. You can even get a FREE BOOK set in Nestled Hollow when you join my newsletter! If you would like a sneak peak of the first book, Second Chance on the Corner of Main Street, read on!
—Meg
SECOND CHANCE ON THE CORNER OF MAIN STREET
Chapter One
Whitney sat at her desk in the Nestled Hollow Gazette, moving each of the day’s articles into their place in the layout. She glanced up at one of the other occupied desks in this three-desk office. “Scott, how is the business spotlight coming?”
“Still working on it,” Scott said, not taking his eyes off his computer screen.
“Kara, how close are you on the repaving article?”
“I need three minutes.”
The door burst open, and a red-faced third grader ran in, clutching a paper in his hand.
Whitney stood up. “Lincoln— did you run all the way here from school?”
Lincoln bent over, his hands on his knees, panting. Between heaving breaths, he said, “Yep. I had to stay after to finish my math, so I ran to get here at the normal time.”
“You don’t have to hurry over here so quickly,” Whitney said, grabbing a water bottle from their mini fridge and handing it to him. “It’s okay if you come later, or even if you have to miss a day.”
He handed a paper to Whitney and opened the water bottle, taking a few gulps. “Nope, a junior reporter always meets his deadlines.” And then he saluted her, and she saluted him right back.
As Whitney turned, Lincoln grabbed her arm. “Wait. I didn’t see what your shirt said today, and it’s a new one, right?” Whitney turned back around as Lincoln read it out loud and laughed. “‘I’m a superhero dressed as a reporter.’ That one’s my new favorite.”
Whitney grinned. At the beginning of the school year, Lincoln had stopped in every single day for a week, begging to be a “junior reporter” and bring her the articles he wrote during recess at school. She hadn’t wanted to squash the dreams of someone so passionate about journalism, so she’d told him yes. She could tell that he tried so hard on his handwriting that she decided to scan his article and print it exactly as he wro
te it instead of typing it out like a normal article, and his feature was an instant hit. It had prompted her to talk to the teacher of the journalism class at the middle school, and they started a “journalist for the day” program in their class. Whitney would’ve killed for the opportunity to have a by-line in elementary school or middle school.
Just as Lincoln was walking out the door, he held it open for Evia, an older woman with extra fluffy hair, as she stepped inside. “Hello, Whitney. I’m just stopping in on my way to market and wanted to tell you that apparently that storm last night blew a giant branch clean off the Amherst’s tree. And you know they’re both too old to be cleaning up a mess like that. But on my way, I saw a den of Cub Scouts gathering to haul off the mess. I snapped a picture with my phone,” she held it out as evidence, “but I don’t know how to get the picture off this blasted thing and over to you.”
Whitney helped her to email the picture to Whitney’s email account and thanked Evia for the story. As Evia was walking out the door, Whitney smiled. She had lived in this town for her entire life, so they’d seen every awkward phase she’d gone through and every mistake she’d made. And she’d had some incredibly awkward phases and made some pretty big mistakes. She didn’t pause nearly often enough to think about how far she’d come, and how great it was to have a town who trusted her. When Mr. Annesley had retired and left the newspaper to her, and then died in a car crash that same weekend three years ago, Whitney would’ve never guessed that so many people would stop in and give her every story idea they had. She was actually successful at publishing a small town newspaper, when most print newspapers in the country were a thing of the past. The Nestled Hollow Gazette succeeded because it kept its focus on showcasing all the people in the town.