Becca tried to avoid looking at Rosanna, but guilt must’ve made her glance over. Her sister was sitting there with a smug smirk on her face. Becca was holding her breath, hoping against hope that Rosanna would not bring up running into her and Nick in the baby department.
Aunt Millie was the first to speak. “So this means you’re getting married, right?”
Becca could feel Nick withdrawing under all the pressure.
“Actually, we have no plans for that, right now.”
It surprised Becca how much it hurt to say those words, more than she’d expected. And she had to admit that she was disappointed when Nick didn’t speak up and say something that vaguely hinted that marriage wasn’t out of the question.
Just because she was falling in love with him didn’t mean the feeling was mutual. And the only thing worse than not being married to the father of your child was to be married to a man who didn’t love you.
One person could not bring all the love to a marriage. She’d learned that through her parents.
“We’re working on that,” Isabel said without a trace of teasing in her tone. “We’ll have them walking down the aisle before next Thanksgiving. Just watch.”
Obviously, she wasn’t joking. Becca wanted to melt into a puddle and disappear through the fine cracks in the mahogany floorboards.
Suddenly, Nick stood. “It’s nice to meet you,” he said to no one in particular. “Thank you for letting me share your Thanksgiving, but I really should be going.”
“You haven’t had your pie yet,” said Aunt Millie.
Nick smiled at her, but Becca could see the weariness in his eyes and around the corners of his mouth. “Everything was so delicious, I’m stuffed. I couldn’t eat another bite, but thank you.”
Meeting the entire family like this, under these circumstances, had been a lot to swallow. She didn’t blame him for wanting to leave.
“Get yourself a piece to take home with you,” Aunt Mille said. “Your bride-to-be made all those pies. You don’t want to miss out.”
In the time that it took Nick to say his thank-yous and good-nights, someone had wrapped up an entire pie, and Aunt Millie was thrusting it at him. Resigned, he graciously accepted it.
Becca walked with him outside to his car. The temperatures felt as if they’d dipped down below the freezing mark. The weathercasters had warned they would experience the first freezing temperatures of the season tonight. So the chill in the air wasn’t solely emanating from Nick.
“That must’ve been overwhelming for you,” she said.
“Just a little bit.” He unlocked the car and placed the pie in the backseat.
“It was overwhelming for me, and I’ve known most of those people all my life.”
All he did was smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes, and he looked absolutely rung out.
Even so, he hugged her good-night.
While she was in his arms, she breathed in the scent of him, wanting to saturate her senses with it so she could memorize it. Because right now things between them felt fragile and fleeting.
She loved her family in spite of their quirks. Heck, they were their quirks. That’s what made them unique. They were big and loud and overbearing and brassy, nosy and bossy. God, they could have their own version of the Seven Dwarfs. Although right now, she’d be divested of her role as goody-goody.
She would no longer be thought of as the good girl of the family. It was about time.
Because tonight she’d come to some realizations of her own. Not everyone found her family endearing. And her mother—that bit about making sure she and Nick walked down the aisle before next Thanksgiving—that was inexcusable.
“It’s been a long, long day,” Nick said. “I need to go. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow I’m going to be tied up with the tree lighting in the park,” she said. “But I hope you’ll stop by. It really is pretty. It’s a nice way to kick off the holidays.”
He didn’t say one way or the other if he’d be there tomorrow night, but he did give her a peck on the lips before he got in his car and drove away. And that was something.
Wasn’t it?
Chapter Ten
After Nick left, Becca went back inside her parents’ house.
She walked into the kitchen, where her mother was directing the cleanup process.
“Mom, I need to talk to you. Can we please go in the other room?”
“Not now, Rebecca. We need to get this kitchen cleaned up. In fact, there is a whole rack of wineglasses over there that need to be dried and put away. You can sit down while you help. Go do that.”
“Mom. The wineglasses will wait. You and I need to have a talk right now. Please, come in the other room, unless you want me to say what I have to say in front of everybody here.”
She’d never challenged her mom like this. For the second time that night you could’ve heard a pin drop, everyone was so taken aback. Even Rosanna. She’d lost her smirk and was watching this showdown unfold with wide eyes.
Isabel glared at Becca for a moment. But then she put down her dish towel, untied her apron and patted her perfect lacquered hair into place.
“If you insist, Rebecca. But make it quick.”
* * *
The next day, Becca decided to give Nick some space. It wasn’t hard, since the foundation tree-lighting ceremony had kept her running all day. Now, as time drew closer for them to flip the switch on the tree and for everybody to oooh and ahhh and clap their appreciation, everything switched into high gear.
The tree lighting was becoming a nice annual tradition that the entire population of Celebration looked forward to every year. And every year it was getting more and more involved.
The foundation sponsored the event, but this year, they’d added a fund-raising element to benefit the foundation. There was a booth selling Christmas trees, a Christmas shop with ornaments and stockings and other holiday decorations, and a table that encouraged people to think about year-end in giving.
Since this was their first year trying their hand at fund-raising, Becca had been in charge of coordinating the volunteers, in addition to hiring the tree decorator, arranging all the permits and concessions, the carolers and the entertainment.
The prancing reindeer from Miss Jeannie’s School of Dance were performing in the gazebo right now. An a cappella group dressed in period costume were singing carols over by the tree. Someone had tracked her down to tell her no one had shown up to man the roasted chestnut booth, so they had to pull somebody from the kettle corn and hot spiced cider stations to fill in until the chestnut roaster arrived.
She had just put out that fire when her neighbor Mrs. Cavett, who she’d appointed as a volunteer for the holiday shop in a moment of weakness, sidled up next to her.
“Lovely event, Becca sweetheart. But you know, honey, next year you really should organize better. It’s only proper to provide dinner for the volunteers or at least snacks. I’m starving. It was such a bother to have to take our breaks in rotation. You know, if we had food, we could eat right there while we worked. Happy volunteers make for happy sales.”
Becca had a fleeting image of Mrs. Cavett and Mrs. Milton huddled around a platter of shrimp cocktail and ignoring the customers while they gorged.
“I’m sorry you’re hungry, Mrs. Cavett. I should have recommended that you eat dinner before you came. I didn’t even think about snacks, since the shifts are only two hours long.”
Mrs. Cavett tsked. Then she took a hold of Becca’s upper arm as if for emphasis.
“Sweetheart, the mark of a good hostess is to always feed your guests or, in this case, your volunteers.”
“The only problem is this is a fund-raiser. We didn’t really have a budget for volunteer snacks. But I do appreciate your input. And, hey
, maybe next year we can organize a committee to get food donations or maybe the volunteers could each bring some finger food. May I count on you to coordinate the volunteer treats for us next year?”
“Becca, darling, you don’t burden your volunteers by asking them to bring food.”
She could see this conversation was going nowhere fast. She’d have better luck arranging a Radio City Music Hall gig for Miss Jeannie’s dancing reindeer than trying to get Mrs. Cavett to see things her way. Becca swallowed her indignation.
“Thank you for your input, Mrs. Cavett. I’ll pass along your helpful notes to next year’s committee.”
Of course, she was the sole member of next year’s committee.
Becca was thrilled to see Mrs. Milton barreling toward them...looking and sounding like a rampant reindeer who had broken loose from Santa’s sleigh, in her brown muumuu and jingle bell necklace, complete with matching earrings.
Even before she arrived, it was clear that Mrs. Milton was coming over to join the criticism choir. Becca knew she’d better disengage now before the two women had her cornered.
“Hi, Mrs. Milton. I’m sorry, but I have to run. I have to get over to the stage to make sure everything is in order for the tree lighting.”
As she walked away, Becca wondered who was manning the holiday shop, but she knew if she went back to ask she’d never get away.
Instead, she detoured over to the concession area and bought a bottle of water. It was the first moment she’d had since lunch to stop and take a break, and she was tired. She was scanning the crowd to see if she could spot Nick, when she saw Kate, who seemed to have the same idea as she did, only with hot chocolate.
“Someday we are going to hire someone else to handle this shindig so we can go Black Friday shopping,” said Kate.
“Right. Whose brilliant idea was this to do the tree lighting on the day after Thanksgiving?” Becca smiled. “Oh, yeah, her name is Kate Thayer. She’s worse than the Grinch who stole Christmas.”
“I hear she’s fabulous,” Kate said. “A true visionary.”
Becca rolled her eyes and laughed.
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to you all day,” Kate said. “How did Thanksgiving with your parents go?”
Becca rubbed her hands over her eyes and sighed. “Which do you want to hear about first? The part where Aunt Millie tried to force-feed Nick pumpkin pie? The one where my mom announced to everyone that she would make sure Nick and I got married before next Thanksgiving? Or the grand finale where I told off my mother?”
Kate’s jaw dropped. “And why didn’t you invite me to Thanksgiving? This is like Thanksgiving dinner theater. All we had was a boring dinner with turkey and stuffing. Although, the dessert Liam and I shared was particularly delicious this year, if you know what I mean.”
Kate waggled her eyebrows.
“And I’m the one who ends up pregnant with twins.”
Kate shrugged, and for a moment Becca thought she glimpsed a hint of sadness in her eyes.
“Are you okay?” Becca asked.
“I’m fine. We have about ten minutes before we have to head over to the stage. I want to hear everything. Especially the part about you telling your mother off. I never thought I’d live to see the day that happened. I’d ask if you’d been drinking, but I already know the answer to that. What happened?”
Becca squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, trying to erase the memory of the bad scene.
She gave Kate the basic rundown.
“...and after we went upstairs, I told her I didn’t appreciate the way she kept insisting that Nick and I were getting married. And my mother kept insisting she’d done nothing wrong. And I told her she needed to stop this constant interference because I’m twenty-five years old and she just needs to stop.”
“Get out.” Kate’s eyes were huge, and she’d had her hand over her mouth the entire time Becca had been telling the story. Kate knew Isabel, and she also understood that Becca’s confronting her basically amounted to World War Three.
“Do you know what my mother had the nerve to say?”
Kate shook her head. “I have no idea. I’m terrified of your mother. I can’t believe you lived to tell the story.”
Becca nodded.
“She said my life needed a little more interference from somebody with better sense than I had, since I’d gone and gotten myself pregnant.”
Kate winced. “Oh, honey, I’m sorry. That’s really out of line.”
Becca lifted her chin a notch. “It is. As of right now, we’re not speaking. But after the numbness wore off, I realized I’ve been letting her get away with stunts like that my entire life. I’ve always thought if I just kept my mouth shut, if I did everything right, she’d love me—”
Becca’s voice broke. She cleared her throat.
“But I don’t think she knows how to love, Kate. Last night was an epiphany. All these years I’ve been thinking there was something wrong with me. Well, it’s not me, and I’m tired of her making me feel like I’m not good enough to earn her love.”
Becca felt her eyes start to well, and she swiped at the tears. The realization had been a weight lifted off her shoulders, but with the burden gone, the heaviness had been replaced by a strange sort of emptiness.
Kate put her hand on Becca’s arm and gave it a squeeze.
“Dare I ask, how did Nick handle everything?”
Becca shrugged. “I don’t know. He left before my mom and I had it out. I haven’t talked to him today. He seemed pretty overwhelmed by everything last night. He just got sort of quiet. I told him I’d be here. Told him that he could meet me for the tree lighting if he wanted to. I haven’t heard from him.”
“Well, that’s because he just walked up.”
Becca’s breath hitched in her chest.
Kate pointed with her head. “He’s right over there with Liam and Jake. I’m pretty sure they’re waiting for us to finish what we’re doing here so we can join them for the tree lighting.”
There he was. Standing there with the entire Sunday night football crew, looking as if he’d always been one of them.
Becca glanced at her phone. He hadn’t texted her. But he was here. He probably hadn’t texted her for the same reason she didn’t text him when he was at work. She had a job to do, and he respected that she didn’t have time to be on her phone.
It was actually a courtesy.
After all, he was here tonight. If he hadn’t wanted to see her, he could’ve stayed home or at least avoided her friends... But they had become his friends, too.
Becca checked in with the people from the mayor’s office, who were on the podium where the mayor would address the citizens of Celebration before pulling the lever that would officially light the Christmas tree for this season. They were all set. She pointed out the area at the right-hand corner of the stage and told them that’s where she’d be if they needed anything.
Then she took a deep breath and went down to join her friends. And Nick.
“There you are,” he said. “I was beginning to think you stood me up.”
He greeted her with a kiss, and everything seemed fine. She was so relieved she wanted to cry.
“I’m glad you’re here.”
He put his arm around her, and she snuggled into the warmth of him. She couldn’t think of any place else she’d rather be than right here with him.
“And two cups for Becca and Nick?” Pepper asked.
“Hey, Pepper. What’s going on?” Becca asked.
“Rob and I would like to buy everyone a cup of hot mulled wine. We need to toast the holidays.”
“Oh, that’s so nice of you. Nick? Would you like some wine?”
“Sounds great, thanks.”
“Okay, one each for Becca and Nick.”
&nbs
p; Becca held up her hand. “None for me, thanks.”
“Come on, Becca,” said Pepper. “Don’t be a party pooper. We need to have a group toast.”
“I’ll toast with my water. I’m working.”
Pepper squinted at Becca. “Kate’s working, but she’s having wine. When did you become such a teetotaler? You’ve never turned down a glass of wine—until lately. What’s going on with you? Are you pregnant? You are, aren’t you?”
“Pepper...” Becca said, unsure of how to answer. After all, they’d told her family. Their friends would find out soon enough. Why not now?
Becca glanced up at Nick, worried that two nights of pregnancy announcements might send him over the edge. But he gave her his lopsided smile and a barely perceptible shrug.
“And what if she is?” he said to Pepper.
Pepper’s jaw dropped. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
Becca looked at Nick again, fortified by what she saw in his eyes.
“Yes,” Becca said.
Pepper unleashed an earsplitting squeal, and then she threw her arms around Becca’s neck. “I knew it! I knew it. I knew it. I knew it. Oh, I am so happy for you two.”
“So, you’ve been baiting me with the wine, haven’t you?” Becca asked.
Pepper shot her a sly smile. “Maaaybe.”
“How in the world did you know?” Becca asked.
Kate was a vault. There was no way she’d betray Becca’s confidence. That was one of the few constants in the world she could count on.
Pepper shrugged. “Just intuition, I guess.”
Becca didn’t believe her, and Pepper must’ve seen it in her eyes—or maybe it was more of that intuition she was claiming to possess.
“Okay, I’ll confess I overheard you and Kate talking about it at the office after you got so sick with the food poisoning. After you recovered, I guess I was a little jealous, because I wanted to celebrate with you, too.”
“Pepper, I’m sorry. We had to tell my family before we told anyone else.”
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