“Ean, really, you’re getting all worked up over nothing. We both knew that you had a life back up in Boston to get back to; it just so happened that you have to get back to it sooner than we thought. It’s okay; I’m okay. You don’t have to inconvenience yourself on my account.”
“What are you saying, Lace? That you don’t want me to come back?”
Most men would be thankful to have an out, but of course she had to be involved with the one man who needed to drag it out. “I’m saying that I don’t expect you to make such a big production out of coming back only to have to leave again.”
Ean sat quietly for a moment. “What if I didn’t leave again?”
Lacey’s eyes shot to his. “Excuse me?”
“What if when I came back from Boston next week that I wasn’t leaving again? What if I came back here to stay?”
She did not want to misunderstand him; it was important that she not read into this more than it was. “Why? Why would you do that? What about your business?”
“I want to be with you, Lacey. I want to move back here to be with you.”
“I can’t ask you to do that, Ean,” she said, panic lacing her voice.
“You’re not asking me, it’s my decision.”
“Yes, but one that you’re making based on me.”
He chuckled and grabbed her elusive hand again. “As much as I’d like to say that was true, I can’t. Two months ago, if anyone had asked me I would have said that my life was fine. But the truth was, I wasn’t very happy. One of the reason’s I came down here and came to the ranch before going to Raleigh was because I was re-evaluating my life. I was ready for a change, for a new challenge and as much as I’ve always said that I enjoy being away from my family, I’ve missed them.”
“You can’t just uproot your entire office, though. Can you? I mean, what are you going to do?”
“I’m not uprooting anyone; at least not yet. I’m going back to finally promote one of my V.P’s to take over operations in the Boston office. I’m finally going to delegate more and I’ll work from here or from Raleigh and get an office set up and during the transition I may have to travel a little bit but in the long run, I’ll be here permanently.” He looked at her expectantly. “Do you think you can live with that? Having me around permanently?”
Tears started to well in her eyes. “Ean, there is nothing I’d like more than having you around permanently but I would feel so guilty if you were compromising…”
“I never want to hear that word again, Lacey Quinn! I am not compromising anything. This was something that I’d thought about doing and seeing you, being with you, falling in love with you? That just solidified it for me. This is where I want to be!”
Falling in love with you? Had he really just blurted that out?
“You’re in love with me?” she whispered, so afraid that she’d heard him wrong.
Ean couldn’t help himself; he let out a laugh that was part joy and part relief; he’s wanted to say it out loud for so long. “Yes,” he said, softly, sincerely. “I know it seems crazy; we’ve known each other our whole lives and then it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other but one look at you, Lacey, was all it took. I love you.”
Emotion overcame her and the tears ran freely. Ean reached over and cupped her face, wiping her tears away with the pads of his thumbs. “Don’t cry, Lace. I never want to be the reason for you to cry.”
“It’s just that I’m so happy, Ean. I never thought we’d be here, in this place together. Not just the cottage but together like this; in love. It’s more than I ever dared dream of.”
“I want to be the one that makes your dreams come true,” he whispered, emotion clogging his throat.
“I do love you; so much.” Then she laughed out loud. “I never thought I’d get to actually say those words to you. I never thought you’d say them to me!”
“Well, get used to it because I’m going to be saying them a lot from now on.” Standing, he came around the table and took Lacey in his arms and kissed her. He lifted his head and stared down in to her beautiful green eyes. “Every day; possibly several times a day. You think you can handle it?”
“Most definitely,” she sighed, happiness filling her. They stood like that, locked in each other’s arms for several minutes before sitting back down to their meal.
“So you’re going to fly back to Boston?”
“Well, I was thinking that maybe we can fly back to Boston. You mentioned that you don’t have work next week so I thought that maybe we could get away for a few days.”
“But you’ll be working. I wouldn’t want to be in the way…”
“You couldn’t possibly be in the way. I want to show you my company and where I’ve been living. Then, when we get back I’ll show you where I’m looking to set up my offices and the houses that I’m looking at.”
“You’re already looking at houses?” she asked, stunned that he had so much in motion already that she wasn’t even aware of.
“Sweetheart, once you came back in to my life and I knew that I had my answer about what direction I wanted to go in. Now if only I knew a decorator who could help me make the transition happen quickly.” He smirked. “You wouldn’t happen to know anyone would you?”
“You just try and find somebody else!”
“There is nobody else that I want handling it for me, Lace. Honestly, I figured if you saw what I’m living in and working in now, you’d get a feel for what I’m looking for down here.” They talked decorating and Ean’s plans for his new spaces as they finished the meal and when everything was done and put away, they moved the conversation to sitting in front of the Christmas tree, next to the fire.
“This is turning out to be a pretty fabulous Christmas,” Lacey sighed, reclining in Ean’s arms.
“Wait, there’s still the wedding to get through.” She elbowed him in the ribs.
“Don’t ruin the mood!” she laughed. “No matter what happens, it’s going to be a fabulous Christmas.”
Ean smiled to himself. It most certainly would be if he had anything to say about it.
Chapter Eleven
Christmas Eve morning arrived and Lacey woke up in a luxurious hotel room not far from the Callahan ranch alone. While she missed waking up with Ean beside her, it had been necessary as part of the bachelorette ritual the night before. She and Ava had spent the previous day getting pampered at a local spa getting manicures, pedicures, facials and massages before doing some last minute honeymoon shopping for the soon-to-be newlyweds.
As much as it pained her, Lacey kept quiet on her concerns about the upcoming nuptials and decided that if Ava was happy, then she would be happy for her. During their ultimate girl’s day out, they laughed and talked about the future and Lacey told Ava all about her and Ean’s telling each other that they loved each other.
“Told you so,” Ava had said, tongue-in-cheek. “I’m glad that the two of you have finally gotten together. If I would have had to spend one more holiday with the two of you pretending that you weren’t interested in each other I would have had to kill myself!”
Lacey knew it was said in jest but a little part of her wanted to remind her friend that it wasn’t any picnic watching her and Mason during the last couple of months either. Staying quiet seemed the better option.
Now, lying in the king sized bed alone, she allowed herself a good long stretch before beginning what was sure to be a very busy day. She and Ava were supposed to meet in the hotel restaurant for breakfast before going and getting their hair done. After that they had planned to get a light lunch before heading to the Callahan’s to begin getting the bride ready.
A glance at the clock told Lacey that her time of peaceful reflection was over and it was time to hit the shower and get ready to get downstairs in time for breakfast. In record time she was ready and waiting at the elevator, mentally congratulating herself on her ability to not only get ready quickly but to look good at the same time. She was chuckling softly when the
elevator doors and opened and Lacey glanced at her phone to see if she had missed any calls.
Seeing that she hadn’t, relief washed over her because a call from Ava would have meant that the bride-to-be overslept and that would have thrown the whole day off. No missed calls were a good omen.
Stepping off the elevator and in to the restaurant, all good feelings seemed to come to an end. Ava wasn’t there. Lacey checked her watch again and frowned. Where was she? It was her wedding day; wouldn’t she be anxious, particularly more anxious than Lacey, to get things moving?
Lacey followed the hostess to a table with a view of the gardens and as soon as she was seated, she called Ava. “Where are you?” she demanded when Ava finally answered on the sixth ring.
“Oh, Lacey, hi,” Ava said a bit breathlessly. “What’s up?”
“What’s up? I’m sitting here in the hotel restaurant waiting for you. Where are you?”
There was a moment of silence. “Something came up. Listen, why don’t I meet you at the salon. Will that work?”
“Ava, are you okay? What’s come up?” Lacey was starting to get a bad feeling. So much for her theory on the no missed calls.
“It’s nothing. Really. No worries. I just needed to get some last minute stuff done and lost track of the time. We’ll meet up and get our hair done and do lunch and be back on track, okay?” Before Lacey could answer, Ava added quickly, “I’ll see you in a bit. Bye!” and hung up.
Lacey stared at her phone for a full minute before she realized what she was doing. Her mind raced. Last minute stuff? Mentally tracking the events of the last two months alone, Lacey knew without a doubt that every detail of the wedding had been handled; the dresses, the tuxes, the food, the flowers…everything was ready and waiting. Just yesterday she had helped Ava pack for her honeymoon.
As she continued to mentally tally all of the details she thought of the cottage. The cottage was like a scene out of a decorating magazine. Lacey took pictures of it to show clients because it looked that picturesque and perfect! She had met every criterion that Ava had thrown at her; there was no way that she had missed a thing.
Where the heck was Ava?
The waitress came to take her order and rather than seem rude, Lacey ordered a fruit platter and some coffee. Her appetite was gone but she supposed it would be better to have a little something on her stomach just in case anything else crazy happened to come up on the way to wedding. While she waited for her food, calling Ean seemed the natural thing to do.
“What do you mean last minute stuff?” Ean asked after Lacey explained her cryptic conversation with Ava.
“I was hoping you’d know. Did something happen over at the house that I’m not aware of?”
“All that we need here is a bride and groom; everything else is in place. Do you think she’s all right? Do I need to go looking for her?”
“I’m hoping everything is fine and that I’ll have an explanation when we meet up to get our hair done.”
“Call me when you’re leaving the salon so that I know everything’s okay,” he said, concern lacing his voice. “Unless she doesn’t show; definitely call me if she doesn’t show.” She promised that she would and hung up when her food arrived.
“Please don’t make me have to call your brother to tell him you didn’t show,” Lacey said under her breath as she stuck a fork in to a piece of melon.
****
She was fifteen minutes late.
Lacey paced the waiting area of the salon and dialed Ava for the tenth time. When her voicemail came up again, she left yet another message. “Ava? You are really freaking me out now. I’m here at the salon and you’re not. I don’t know what it is I’m supposed to do here. I need to know where you are and that you’re okay. I called Ean earlier and he wanted me to call him if you didn’t show and I’d rather not do that and put the whole family in to a state of panic but you need to call me!”
The bad things about smartphones were that you couldn’t slam them down in a fit of anger when you were hanging up on someone who’d really ticked you off. With no other choice, she pulled up Ean’s number, not sure of what she was going to say that wasn’t going to sound dramatic. Clearly Ava was missing and didn’t want to be found but why? Of all days, why did she have to choose today it to pull a stunt like this?
Her finger poised on the send button, Lacey very nearly dropped the phone when it rang and Ava’s picture showed up. “You’d better have a damned good explanation for this,” she said as her greeting.
“I know, I know, I’m late,” Ava said, her voice as cheery as ever. “I decided to do my own hair. My mom does a beautiful French braid and I think that’s what I’m going to do. Plus, it will give us a little mommy and me time before the wedding.”
Well, it sounded like a very sweet thing to do but it didn’t change the fact that Lacey had been getting the runaround all morning and told Ava as much.
“I’m sorry, Lace, I really am. My nerves are a little more than I expected this morning and I just needed some time alone. I’m better now and I’m heading to my parents house.”
“So what am I supposed to do?”
“Get your hair done, grab your dress and meet me here as planned.”
“We’d planned to have lunch,” Lacey reminded.
Ava sighed wearily. “Can you cut me some slack today, Lace. It’s my wedding day and as such I get a free pass on stuff like this, right?”
She half-heartedly agreed but made a mental note to be more considerate of her friends and family when it was her turn to get married. “Fine; I’ll see you at the house around two o’clock, okay?”
“That’s the plan,” Ava said and then hung up.
So Lacey sat and got pampered a little more. Her hair was left long but with her curls more defined. With the extra time on her hands she decided to indulge and let one of the girls glam her up a little and do her make up. By the time she was ready to leave, she barely recognized herself. Looking in the mirror, all Lacey could think was I should totally do this more often.
By the time she returned to the hotel to grab her dress and other necessities, all she had time to do was grab a yogurt parfait from the restaurant. Where had the time gone? One minute she had all the time in the world, the next she was practically running late! And after all of the grief she’d given Ava today about being where she was supposed to be, it would not look good if she, herself, was late!
There were already a lot of cars in the driveway and Lacey recognized her parent’s car and Ean’s in the bunch. Carefully she emerged from the car and carried her dress and bags to the house. When she opened the door she was greeted by a dozen pairs of eyes and complete silence.
Stopping short, she took in the scene in front of her. “What’s going on?”
Ava stood. “Good, you’re finally here.” Walking toward her, she took Lacey’s dress and hung it on the coat rack and then took the bags Lacey had in her hands and placed them on the floor beside it. Without a word, she then took Lacey by the hand and led her in to the living room where everyone else was seated quietly.
Taking a seat next to Ean, Lacey was beyond confused. Ava and Mason stood in front of the large stone fireplace, hand in hand, and faced their audience. Isn’t it bad luck for the bride and groom to see each other before the wedding? Was all Lacey could think until Ava finally spoke.
“Mason and I wanted you all to know how happy we are that you care so much about us that you were willing to spend your Christmas with us than as you normally would with your families.” She turned and smiled at Mason and then turned her attention back to the group at large. “As most of you know, things have been a little tense since Thanksgiving and we took some time to get counseling and did a lot of soul searching to make sure that we were ready for our future together.”
“It was the best thing that we could have done,” Mason said seriously. “We learned a lot about each other and I want to thank everyone that encouraged us to do it.”
“The
thing is,” Ava said tentatively, “after all of the counseling and soul searching and discussions we realized that we weren’t ready. We each have an idea of what we want for our futures and unfortunately, they aren’t the same thing. So we’ve decided not to get married.”
The entire room erupted in conversation. Lacey felt an odd sense of déjà vu.
“You waited until today…?”
“What about all of the planning…?”
“Do you have any idea the amount of time we put in to this?”
“How could you be so selfish, Ava?”
The only two people in the room not speaking again were Lacey and Ean. Relief washed over Lacey at the thought of her friend not going through with the wedding. Deep down she knew it was the right decision; wrong timing perhaps, but in the end it was the right decision.
Ean sat back, holding Lacey’s hand watching the chaos around him. After a few minutes, he leaned forward and whispered in Lacey’s ear, “Should I say anything?”
“Like what?” she whispered back.
“I feel like someone needs to come to Ava’s defense.”
Not sure it was going to make any difference, Lacey finally agreed and then watched and listened as Ean stood and got everyone’s attention.
“Look, I think we can all agree that the timing of this announcement could have been better. After all, as you yourself said a lot of people gave up their Christmas to come and celebrate with you.” Everyone nodded in agreement. “However, we are all here together and there’s no reason why we can’t still have a festive Christmas Eve together. There’s plenty of food and everything is set up already.”
“Ean,” his mother chimed in, despair in her voice, “we were set up for a wedding! There’s a wedding cake in the dining room! That’s hardly part of the Christmas menu.”
He walked over and kissed his mother on the cheek. “Well it will make for a funny story for future Christmas’s. We’ll all remember the Christmas where we had wedding cake and no wedding.” Everyone laughed and some of the tension in the room disappeared.
The Christmas Cottage Page 12