Dirty Stepbrother

by Alycia Taylor

  “Is this going to be a new tradition or something?”

  “It is!” Rick said. “Merry Christmas, Xavier. It’s good to see you.”

  “It’s good to see you too. Wow, you guys have been busy,” I said as I looked around the room. The entire place had been decorated, and I was sure that the place didn’t look anything like this the year before. “I’m assuming most of this was Holly’s doing.”

  “Of course. Last year I sat here feeling lonely. It’s nice to have a bit of life in the house again. Let me make us some tea, and we can all sit in the living room.”

  Tea and cookies were brought out, and we all sat around by the fire place to talk.

  “I have news,” I said to them all. I’d been dying to tell Holly all week but I wanted to tell her face to face, and I knew that today would be a good day for it. Today was going to be a day of much good news, but I wanted to start off with this one. “I’ve been promoted at the fire station.”

  “You have? That’s amazing! Well done,” Holly said and beamed at me. She’d been telling me for ages that it was about time I got a promotion, so I knew she’d be happy to hear that it finally came true.

  “That’s wonderful! You deserve it, Xavier. You’re a hard worker,” Rick said.

  “Thank you. I’m very happy. It was unexpected too. I had no idea it was going to happen. Only five of us got a raise. I mean, I knew it was going to happen, but I didn’t know it was going to be me. So that was great news. Thankfully Kenny was one that got a raise. Which is a great thing for Andrea and the baby. More money and more security.”

  “I still can’t believe our two best friends are going out,” Holly said. “You see what good matchmakers we are!”

  “I can’t believe Kenny is going to be a father,” I said, and we all laughed. If you’d asked me at the start of the year if thought Kenny would settle down, I would have said never in a million years. Becoming a father was even more surprising. And yet, strangely, it all just felt right.

  “He’s going to be a great father too.”

  “Yeah. I think so as well. I’ve never seen him look as happy as he does now. He’s more settled, and happier in himself. Andrea brings out a good side to him.”

  “Okay, let’s all go around and say some good news,” Rick said. I grinned at him. We’d practiced this, and it was a good time to start. Although as excited as I was, I was also extremely nervous. “That can be a part of our tradition. Xavier’s good news is that he was promoted. What is yours, darling?”

  “Oh, I like this tradition. My good news is that work is going so well, and there’s no way I’m going to leave that place. Oh, and I have a very nice boyfriend and a wonderful dad who makes the best tea.”

  Rick chuckled. “And I have the best daughter.”

  “There the two of you go again. You really never fight, do you?”

  “The last fight was so awful it put us off for life. We’ll try to have an argument every five years or so, just to balance things out,” Holly said and chuckled. “But come on, you have to have better news than just having the best daughter.”

  He laughed. “Actually, I do have some good news. I . . . uh . . .” he looked uncomfortable and didn’t seem to know where to look anymore. This hadn’t been a part of our plan, so I had no idea what he was going to say.

  “What is it, Dad?” Holly asked.

  “Yeah, Rick don’t keep us waiting like this. What’s going on?”

  “Uh . . . I sort of met someone.”

  I looked at Rick in surprise, and then I looked at Holly who was staring open-mouthed at her father. Clearly, she had no idea that he was going to say that either. This was news to all of us.

  “You did? Who?” she asked.

  “Just a new lady in town. Her name is Portia. I met her at the church. We spent hours talking after service one day. Then I took her for coffee. She doesn’t know anyone here, so I was just trying to do something nice. But, well, we just sort of clicked. It wasn’t supposed to happen. As I’m sure you know, I wasn’t looking for anyone. I had no idea that I would fall for someone again. I thought I’d be single forever and I was fine with that. But, turns out that’s not the way God intended me to live my life. He had other plans for me, and I knew it the moment I met her. She also lost her husband a few years ago, and it’s just really nice to have some company. I . . . are you okay with this, Holly? I know this must be strange for you.”

  Holly grinned. “I know Portia!”

  “You do?” Rick asked.

  “Yeah, I met her too. Very briefly but I remember thinking that she was very nice. Super easy to talk to. Dad, she’s gorgeous.”

  I looked at Rick and saw that he was blushing. It was nice to see him looking so excited about something. He shot me a look to say that he was sorry that he’d brought this up now. It wasn’t what we had planned, but I grinned back at him to tell him that it was fine. In fact, it sort of worked for me rather than against me. There was a great feeling of love and honesty running through us all that day.

  “Well . . . yeah. She is. So, you’re not mad?” Rick asked.

  “Are you kidding me? I just want you to be happy. This is great news, Dad. Honestly. I could never be mad at you for something like this. And, anyway, Mom would’ve wanted this for you. I wanted to talk to you about whether you’d ever settle down again but I wasn’t sure if you wanted to talk about it. So really, I’m happy.”

  The relief on Rick’s face was evident.

  “Yeah, congratulations,” I said. “That’s great news. I haven’t met her, but I’m looking forward to it.”

  “Thanks, guys. I appreciate your kind words. I really do. I’ve been worried to tell you. I’ve tried to bring it up with you so many times, but I just couldn’t bring myself to actually do it. Today felt like the right time. Mostly because I’m dying for you all to meet her properly. And, well, I didn’t really want to do anything that you didn’t approve of.”

  Holly laughed. “Ha. Now you know how we felt.” I chuckled at that. I was glad that we could now all at least laugh about what had happened between us.

  Rick looked embarrassed. “You’re right. Well, serves me right. Now, I had some big news and so did Xavier. I don’t think that simply liking your job counts as big news. You’ll have to do better than that my love.”

  Holly chuckled. “Liking my job is big news, though. Great news, in fact. Don’t you think?” she said and looked at me.

  “It’s great news for sure, but it’s not exactly current news. I think your father is right. We need something more than that. You’re definitely going to have to give us something more.”

  “But I don’t have any news. My life is a good one, but not a very exciting one lately. I mean, I’m not a firefighter or anything. I might have to just make up some news, then.”

  “We’ll just have to change that won’t we,” I said and winked at Rick. Holly had no idea that her father and I had planned this entire thing already. Obviously, I had no idea that he was going to tell us he had met someone, but it had played nicely into this game.

  “What do you mean? And why are the two of you looking at each other like that? Something is going on, isn’t it?” Holly said.

  Rick stood up. The time had come, and so far everything had worked out just the way we had wanted it to. He walked over to me and shook my hand and then promptly walked out of the room. Holly looked at me with confusion. She looked back to see where Rick had gone and then looked back at me. As she did, I got down onto my knees and took out a box from the pocket of my jeans. I opened it up to reveal a beautiful gold ring. Her eyes widened, and I was glad to see that she was truly surprised by what I was doing. I had been worried that Rick would somehow give it away. He had already known about this all week. I had obviously asked him not to say anything, but I’d still been worried that he might blow my cover before the day. I was pleased to see that Holly had absolutely no idea.

  “Holly, You’re the most beautiful girl in the world. You always h
ave been, even if you didn’t always believe it yourself. You’re kind, gentle, hilarious, intelligent and stunning. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to remind myself that you are really a part of my life. I’m a lucky man and I tell myself that every single day. I feel proud to call you my girlfriend, but I would feel even prouder to call you my wife. I know it hasn’t been that long, but I don’t see any point in waiting any longer. I know that you’re the right one for me and I know that this is what I want. I never want anyone else. You’re the one for me. You’re my family, and I love you. Holly, will you marry me?”

  Tears were streaming down Holly’s face as she looked at me. She nodded, then cried some more.

  “Is that a yes?” I asked.

  She nodded, laughed and cried all at the same time. “That’s a yes.”

  I stood up, sat next to her on the sofa, put the ring on and then pulled her in towards me.

  “I’m so glad you said yes.” I hadn’t expected her to say no, though. We were far too happy and too deeply connected for her to have turned me down. Of course, until she actually said yes, there was always going to be that small amount of doubt. Even though I thought she would agree, I still felt a huge amount of relief at hearing her say the words out loud.

  “Of course I was going to say yes. You could’ve asked me this months ago, and I would’ve said yes. Wait, my father . . . ” she said. “Where is he?”

  Just then, Rick walked in and grinned at the two of us. He’d obviously been listening in and waiting for his moment to come in. It had been important to me that he was a part of the whole thing, but he had insisted that I do the asking alone. He was carrying a tray of champagne. He placed it down on the table and then hugged Holly, and then hugged me.

  “She said yes!” I said.

  “I knew she would. I had no doubt in my mind that she was going to say yes to you.”

  “And you’re okay with this, Dad?” Holly asked nervously.

  Rick chuckled. “I’m more than okay with this. I’m so happy for the two of you. I couldn’t have asked for a better son-in-law.”

  “So you were in on it?” she said. “Wow, and you didn’t say anything!”

  Rick looked at me, and the two of us laughed. “Oh yeah,” I said. “There was no way I was going to do this without his permission. I’ve learned my lesson.”

  “And there was no way I was going to say anything to you. Although I came close a few times.”

  “This is the best Christmas ever!” Holly said.

  “I hadn’t exactly planned to propose to you in this sweater, though,” I said and looked down at the embarrassingly large reindeer nose across my chest.. But there was something about that which only made it so much better. Things with Holly and I had never been boring, so it seemed only fitting that the proposal had something in it that would make us laugh.

  Rick handed out the champagne, and we all said cheers to a better future together.

  “So now I have some good news to tell everyone,” Holly said. She looked at us and grinned. She waved her hand in the hair, showing off her new gold ring. “I’m engaged!”

  Epilogue

  Two Years Later

  Holly

  So much had changed since Xavier had put that ring on my finger. We’d gotten married only six months after. Just like the proposal, there hadn’t seemed much reason to wait any longer. We were both so eager to start our lives together. The wedding had been small, and we’d obviously had it at my father’s church. It was important for me to have it there, and for me to have everyone that I loved around me. My father had performed two roles that day. He’d walked me down the aisle as my father and had also married me as my pastor. Everyone had burst out laughing as he moved from one position to the next on the day. It had been a fun wedding, with lots of love and laughter in the room. Even Ryan had been invited, and he’d shown up with his new girlfriend who seemed smitten with him. As it turned out, he’d taken my words very seriously and had spent some time trying to improve himself. He still talked a lot, and the talk was mostly about himself, but he also looked at his new girlfriend in a way that he had never looked at me. I was happy for him. In a way, him being so horrible to me had shown my father how good Xavier was for me.

  I’d moved in with Xavier right after the wedding. It was nice, but the place was small and didn’t feel like the sort of place we wanted to live together in as a couple. It felt too much like a bachelor’s home. We spent some time looking around and eventually found a place near the city. It was still a small home because we decided that we didn’t want anything too big, but it was our home, and that made all the difference in the world. It was close to work for me, but still close enough for Xavier to get to work too. And, as promised, we were at my dad’s every single Sunday. We attended his church service and then went back to his place for a late breakfast. Every Sunday we all sat around his living room, drinking his milky tea and catching up. Xavier had admitted to me how he’d hated my father’s tea, but he now looked forward to it each week. We both believed that there was something magical about that tea.

  Kenny and Andrea had the most beautiful little baby girl that I had ever seen. Her name was Francis, and the moment she was born we knew that Kenny would be changed forever. He’d found what he wanted in life, and there was no way he was ever going to go back to the life he’d had before. The only thing that he hadn’t given up was his smoking, although he’d cut down to only a few a day, and he never smoked around the baby.

  Two years had passed now, and I was sitting in the living room at my father’s house. All three of us were wearing our big Christmas sweaters again. It was now our third Christmas of wearing them. It was a good thing that mine had been so big. It sat tight on my ever-expanding belly.

  “You like Santa now,” Xavier said as he patted my stomach.

  I chuckled. “I look like I ate Santa, you mean.”

  I was pregnant with twins, and my stomach was so big that I couldn’t even see my feet anymore. I rubbed my belly sadly.

  “I’m going to miss this you know.”

  “Really? But I thought you said it was so uncomfortable,” my dad said.

  I laughed. “It’s terribly uncomfortable. But amazing all at the same time. It’s hard to explain. I guess you have to be a woman.”

  “Well, you look like you’re about to pop so you better make the most of this time, then.”

  “Two more weeks! I still can’t believe I’m having twins.”

  “I still can’t believe I’m about to be a grandfather. Am I really that old now?”

  I chuckled. “You’re going to be amazing. I . . .”

  “What’s wrong darling?”

  I looked at my father and Xavier in panic.

  “I’m so embarrassed. I think I just wet myself. I’m so sorry. This is so awful. I constantly need the toilet, but I usually get there on time.” I couldn’t believe that I’d just done something like that. My face was flushed as I looked at my father and Xavier.

  Xavier looked at me. His eyes were wide. “Uh, Holly, I think your water just broke.”

  “My water?!” I exclaimed. Then I burst out laughing. “I thought I had peed.”

  Once the laughter had subsided, I realized what was actually going on. I was about to have a baby. Two babies. It was two weeks early, and I suddenly felt completely unprepared. Thankfully, we had a hospital bag all packed and ready in the car due to advice from a friend who had gone into labor early. We’d only put the bag in a few days ago.

  “Oh my God, we’re having babies!” I yelled.

  We all scrambled into the car in a nervous flurry. We kept laughing, but I knew it was because we were all so scared.

  “I don’t want to do this,” I said as we got to the hospital. “Can’t I just keep them inside me?”

  Xavier chuckled. “You can do this, Holly. You’ve got this!”

  I wanted to shout at him and tell him that he had no idea what I was going through, but I didn’t want to be one of those wo
men. Poor guy was probably nervous enough. And he was right. I had this! I had gotten through a lot of things in my life, and I could do this. I took his hand, and we made our way inside.

  It all seemed to happen so quickly for me. I barely had time to think about what was going on once we were inside the hospital. I just followed the doctor’s orders and let people tell me what to do. Xavier was by my side the whole time, squeezing my hand, while my father waited outside. I imagined him pacing up and down the hall while he waited for the call to come inside.

  When I heard the babies cry, my heart swelled with joy. I’d always seen mothers get emotional at that part in the movies, but I never truly realized how good it would feel until that moment. Before that, you’re holding your breath as you wait to find out that everything was okay.

  “Well, it looks like I was wrong about the gender,” the doctor said. “Which is amazing because we’re almost never wrong anymore.” The doctor had told us that we were going to be having a boy and a girl and he seemed pretty sure of it.

  “You were?”

  The doctor seemed embarrassed. “I’m sorry for misleading you.”

  I laughed. “Don’t be sorry. I’m just so glad that they’re alive and healthy. That’s all that matters. They are healthy, aren’t they?”

  He grinned. “They certainly are. You have two beautiful little boys. Congratulations, Holly and Xavier.”

  The doctor and the nurse walked over, each carrying a little baby boy. They gave one to me and one to Xavier, and we both chuckled as we looked at them.

  “They look just like you,” I said to Xavier.

  Xavier laughed. “Little firemen.”

  “Please, can you call my father?” I asked the doctor.

  My father came in moments later, tears streaming down his face as he saw the two little boys in our arms.

  “Both boys,” I said as my father kissed me on the forehead and told me how proud he was of me.

  “Oh, darling! You did so well. Two little boys. Looks like you’re outnumbered in this family. All these boys to protect you.”