Love Happens

by Claudia Burgoa

But this was a different kind of night.

  It was the kind of night that made me feel good in other ways—I felt a part of something. I felt the love between Levi and his son. I felt the effort Levi was making to show me there was a place for me in his life, a place for the love we shared. And I felt even more respect and admiration for him as a father, understood better the weight that being Scotty’s only parent placed on him, as well as the joy it brought him.

  When dinner was over, I insisted on helping with the dishes, and when they were loaded and the food put away, Levi told Scotty he could have some extra playtime while he showed me the house.

  My heart beat faster at the thought of being alone with him, even though I knew we couldn’t have sex.

  Which was why I got the wind knocked out of me when Levi shut his bedroom door behind us and caged me against it, crushing his lips to mine.

  I gave up on breathing and kissed him back, my body straining against his.

  “I fucking want you so badly right now,” he whispered. “You have no idea.”

  “Uh, yes I do,” I said as he wedged one thigh between my legs. “Believe me.”

  “I’m sorry we have to wait.”

  “It’s OK, really.”

  “God, Jillian.” He shook his head, his eyes serious. “Tell me we’re OK. Tell me I didn’t fuck this up. I’m so sorry.”

  “We’re OK,” I said. “This is what I wanted. To know what it was like to be here with you.”

  He let my arms drop and gathered me against him. “I love you here with me. With us. I thought being a good father meant I had to deny this part of myself, but it wasn’t true. I had to accept it, without fear or reservation. I want Scotty to see what love looks like, all kinds of love.”

  I locked my hands behind his back. “Scotty is so sweet.”

  “He is. He’s also having a very good day. A good week, actually. It does get harder than this.”

  I slapped him lightly on the butt. “Such a pessimist.”

  “I’m serious. You need to know that.”

  “I know. I’m teasing you. And it’s OK—we all have good days and bad. Nothing and no one is perfect.”

  “I love you.” He kissed my head.

  “I love you too.”

  When it got close to nine, I saw that Scotty was getting tired and knew how important it was that he get to bed at the regular time. Levi helped me with my coat, threw his on as well, and walked me to my car. Snowflakes were starting to fall.

  “So what will you do for Christmas?” he asked. “Do you go to your mom’s?”

  “Usually,” I said, shivering. “Ooh, it’s cold. But this year we’re going to a party at the winery where Skylar works on Christmas Eve, and then to my mom’s on Christmas Day for dinner. What about you? Heading up to Charlevoix?”

  He nodded and wrapped his arms around me to keep me warm. “Yes,” he said, dropping a kiss on the tip of my nose. “And you are invited to come to brunch there on Christmas morning.”

  “Really?”

  He laughed. “I love how that lit you up.”

  “Well, that’s exciting for me, to meet your family. I want you to meet mine, too. You and Scotty.”

  “That would be nice,” he said.

  “Could you … could you maybe stop by the winery on Christmas Eve?” I asked hopefully. “It would be so nice to see you that night.”

  “I wish I could,” he said, “but I think my mother would kill me. Now you better go, before you get frostbite out here.”

  “OK.” I tried not to feel too disappointed. Being invited to Christmas Day brunch was amazing, and I couldn’t wait to tell my sisters.

  We kissed goodnight, and he opened the car door for me. “Drive carefully, OK? I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  “I will. I love you.”

  He smiled. “I love you too.”

  Life got a little hectic in the days before Christmas, and we didn’t get another chance to see each other before he had to leave for Charlevoix, although we spoke every day. He called me on his way up.

  “Are you getting ready for the party?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I said, hunting around for the right earrings for my dress. “I wish you were coming with me.” It was our first Christmas Eve as a couple, and we had to spend it apart. I was trying not to feel sad about that.

  “I know. I’m sorry. My mom is all insistent that Christmas Eve is for family.”

  That made my heart ache a little. “I get it.”

  “Well, listen. I better go. Roads aren’t great and it’s getting dark. You have fun tonight and call me in the morning when you’re heading out. You have directions and the address, right?”

  “Yes. Drive carefully, please,” I begged, worried about him on the dark, snowy highways.

  “I will. Love you. Merry Christmas.”

  “Love you, too. Merry Christmas.”

  I hung up and finished getting ready, trying to focus on all the good things in my life, not on how much I’d miss him tonight. But it was hard.

  Christmas Eve was for family, his mother insisted. I didn’t disagree, and I loved my family fiercely. But I wanted him in it.

  Was that crazy?

  Levi

  I set the phone down and smiled. Pulling off the white lie about tonight hadn’t been easy, since I was so bad at deception, but every time I thought about her face when she saw Scotty and me at the party tonight, it gave me the strength to keep up the act. At least she couldn’t see my face today, I thought, which hadn’t been straight at all during our conversation. It had been much harder the other night when I’d had to turn down her invitation in person.

  I felt a twinge of guilt thinking about the comment I’d made regarding family but decided it would make her that much happier when she saw that family to me included everyone I loved most—and that meant her.

  I hummed a holiday tune as I went to collect Scotty from his room for his shower. “Ready, bud?”

  “Yes,” he said, putting his hands over his ears. “But Dad. Stop singing.”

  I grinned. “You got it.”

  “Where are you going?” he asked as I drove through the snowy dark up the highway on Old Mission peninsula.

  “We are going to a Christmas party.”

  “At Grandma’s house?”

  “No, at a new place.”

  “This is a snowstorm.” Worry made his voice shake a little.

  “Don’t worry, I’m driving nice and slow, see? It’s not bad. And there will be treats there.” I’d double-checked with Sebastian that it was OK for Scotty and me to be there, and he said Skylar was thrilled and wouldn’t say a word to Jillian about it. I’d also asked about how many people would attend, and while he wasn’t positive, he didn’t think it would be more than thirty.

  Miles had told him to let me know I should arrive by eight, so I tried to leave extra time for the drive, knowing the roads would be slow. We pulled up at the winery at about five to eight, and I felt exceedingly proud of myself for being on time. With a quick thank you, God for letting Scotty have a good day today, I got out of the car, took Scotty’s hand, and hustled up the front steps.

  Jillian

  The winery looked beautiful, the tasting room decked with candles, white lights and holly, mistletoe hanging in every archway, and a huge evergreen tree in one corner, hung with French-themed ornaments and colored bulbs, a fleur-de-lis at the top. Instrumental carols played on hidden speakers, the wine flowed, and the food was delicious. Instead of tables and chairs, as there had been for the rehearsal dinner, the room was staged with cozy couches and chairs in conversational groupings to encourage mingling, but I noticed that the area in front of the fireplace had been cleared. Maybe they didn’t want anyone sitting too close to the fire, which crackled and popped, giving the room a warm glow.

  The guest list was intimate: just my family, the Fourniers, the families of a few Abelard employees and two families who were visiting the Fourniers for the holidays. I got chatting with o
ne of the wives, a lovely woman with strawberry blonde hair and flawless porcelain skin, whose name was Erin. She told me she had grown up across the street from Mia Fournier, and they’d remained best friends. The third in their trio, a gorgeous brunette named Coco, was at the party as well. She spent almost the entire evening chasing around three young sons with dark eyes and mischievous grins.

  “Coco was Mia’s roommate in college,” Erin said, taking a sip of her water. She was pregnant with her second child; her handsome husband Charlie, a cop, was walking around with their adorable blonde one-year-old daughter on his hip. “The three of us are really close, so this is so nice to spend time together up here.”

  “How often do you get up to see her?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine moving away from my sisters.

  She smiled. “Not as much as we’d like, but that might change. Coco’s husband, Nick, is opening a restaurant up here.” She gestured toward an attractive, dark-haired guy who was chatting with Natalie and Miles.

  “Really? That’s great.”

  “What about you? Are you married?”

  For once, the question didn’t bother me at all. “Not yet. I’m dating someone,” I said shyly, looking into my wineglass, “but he couldn’t be here tonight.”

  “Oh, that’s too bad.”

  “Yeah, he has an eight-year-old son, and they always go to Grandma’s on Christmas.”

  “Totally get it,” Erin said. “Charlie has a daughter from a previous marriage too.”

  “Really?” I stood up taller. “Was it … hard to make that work? When you got married, I mean?”

  “Well, yes and no. His daughter Madison is wonderful, but we still had to go slow and make sure she was comfortable with everything. We’re lucky that Charlie has a good relationship with Madison’s mother. That made things easier.”

  “I bet. I guess I’m lucky there, since there is no mother in the picture at all. Levi is a full-time single dad.”

  “That might make it a little easier,” Erin said. “At least politically.” She grinned ruefully. “But I imagine it makes finding alone time difficult.”

  I grinned back. “Uh, yeah. A bit.”

  “But you know what? If he’s bringing you into his life, and his son’s life, that means he thinks you’re really special. He must be serious about you.”

  I blushed, my eyes dropping again. “I hope so. I wish he was here tonight.”

  “I can tell.”

  And then the most amazing thing happened.

  I looked up and saw him coming toward me over Erin’s shoulder. In his black suit. Tall and gorgeous, holding Scotty’s hand, a hint of a smile on his face. I saw him … was it real?

  “Oh my God. He’s here. He’s here.”

  Erin looked over her shoulder and then back at me. “In the black suit? With the beard and the broad shoulders?”

  I blinked. “Yeah. This is crazy. But that’s him and his son.”

  She touched my shoulder. “I love it. Merry Christmas.”

  “Merry Christmas,” I said, meeting her eyes, still in a daze. What was he doing here?

  I set my wineglass down on a nearby table and started walking toward him, and we met halfway. I grabbed his free hand and threw the other one around his neck, and he lifted me right off my feet. Against my chest, his rumbled with laughter. “Hey, beautiful.”

  “Hi,” I said, tearing up. “Oh my God, what are you doing here?” I released him and stood back to greet the boy at his side. “Hey, Scotty. How are you?”

  “How are you?” he asked, not quite meeting my eyes.

  “We came to see you,” Levi said, squeezing my hand. “You look gorgeous.”

  “Thank you. You both look great too.” I took in father and son in matching black suits, white dress shirts, and dark ties, and grinned. “Quite a pair you make.”

  “Thanks.”

  “But what about your mom? What about your family?”

  He leaned in and kissed my cheek. “You’re family to me, and this is where I want to be.”

  I hugged him tight again. “I love you so much,” I whispered.

  “I love you too,” he said. “This is everything I want.”

  I was so happy I didn’t even know what to do with myself. “Are you hungry? Thirsty? You have to meet my parents! Is it too noisy?” I glanced at Scotty.

  Just then the music faded, and a female voice rang out at the front of the room.

  “May I have your attention, please.”

  Levi and I turned toward the fireplace and saw Mia Fournier addressing the room. “We’re so glad you’re all here tonight. It means so much to be able to share the holidays with the people you love.”

  “Hear, hear!” someone shouted, and I felt another tug on my hand.

  “Tonight is extra special,” Mia went on, her eyes sparkling. “Something is about to take place, something that will remind us that aside from all the gifts and the lights and the snow and the food and the wine, this is a season about love.”

  At first I thought she was going to make a toast, so I was surprised when she said, “Could Jillian Nixon and Skylar Pryce please come forward?”

  “What on earth …” I muttered, glancing at Levi.

  “Come on up here, ladies,” Mia called.

  “Go on,” he said, his eyes sparkling, like he was in on a joke.

  Confused, I made my way to the fireplace at the same time as Skylar, who looked equally perplexed.

  Mia smiled at us before reaching into a box I hadn’t noticed at her feet. She pulled out two small bouquets of winter white flowers and evergreens and handed them to us.

  We exchanged a frantic look and immediately searched the crowd for Natalie. She was nowhere to be found. “She wouldn’t,” Skylar said.

  “She couldn’t,” I said.

  “She did.” Mia grinned.

  Skylar and I had another one of those conversations with our eyes.

  OMG how dare she?

  I know! How could she keep this a secret?

  So mad at her.

  SO mad. But yay!

  Yay! We’ll kill her tomorrow. We’ll be happy right now.

  SO happy.

  Mia placed us where she wanted us, and a murmur ran through the crowd. Skylar and I, as vain as this sounds, quickly appraised each other’s outfits. When we’d dressed tonight, we’d thought it was just a Christmas party, but now it was our baby sister’s wedding.

  Skylar looked amazing, of course—a black strapless cocktail dress, chunky gold necklace, and red patent pumps. I was wearing emerald green, pearls, and strappy black heels. We gave each other the nod of approval.

  “OK,” Mia said loudly, addressing the room again. “Can we have Mr. and Mrs. Nixon up front as well?”

  My bewildered parents appeared, and Mia placed them right in the front of the crowd. “Perfect.”

  They looked at Skylar and me with quizzical faces, and both of us shrugged.

  “Now if I could ask everyone to clear a little path here, stand back just a bit, we can do this.” She turned over her shoulder. “Nick?”

  The lights dimmed so that the room glowed with the golden warmth of candles, and the dark-haired man Erin had pointed out as their friend Coco’s husband stepped out from the crowd and stood in front of the fireplace, a leather portfolio in his hand. So was he ordained or something? I noticed Sebastian step out as well, standing opposite Skylar and me, hands folded in front of him. I glanced at Skylar, who was giving him a look that said if you knew about this and didn’t tell me, you are dead.

  But before she could accost him, the music started again—Frank Sinatra’s “Young at Heart,” which was our parents’ wedding song. My mother was already dabbing at her eyes by the time Natalie and Miles appeared, hand in hand, walking through the path the guests had created. My throat closed, and Skylar and I clutched each other. How did we miss this?

  Natalie wore a short, A-line maternity cocktail dress in ivory with a halter neck tied in a bow above her left shoulder. H
er hair was up, her skin was radiant, and she had a smile on her face that rivaled all the strings of lights in the room.

  Miles looked handsome in his dark suit, but more than that, he looked madly in love with our sister. Suddenly I realized that his family wasn’t here, and I felt sad for him—I knew they weren’t very close, and maybe it didn’t bother him that his parents wouldn’t see him get married. Although, maybe he’d invited them and they hadn’t elected to come.

  Miles and Natalie reached the front, and she looked over at Skylar and me, a guilty but gleeful grin on her face. My eyes teared up, and I smiled back. Nick began the ceremony, and I looked for Levi in the crowd—he was so tall, I found him pretty easily, standing a little to one side and pointing things out to Scotty. Poor kid thought he was coming to a party and has to endure a wedding, I thought. I’ll make sure to get him something sweet to eat as soon as it’s over.

  I still couldn’t believe he was here, and I blinked a few times to make sure he didn’t disappear from the flickering shadows. But there he was—tall and strong and beautiful, holding his son’s hand and locking eyes with me, telling me without words that from now on we would share one life together, celebrating beautiful times like this and supporting each other when things got tough. Because it wasn’t about being perfect, it wasn’t about having the perfect love story, and it didn’t matter that it might take us a little longer to get where we wanted to go. We’d get there.

  With our eyes still on each other’s, he brought one hand to his ear and rubbed it—their little sign for I love you. My breath caught, my eyes filled, and my entire body hummed with assurance that I’d found—we’d found—where we belonged.

  I introduced Levi and Scotty to my parents, who both insisted they come for dinner tomorrow night.

  “Thank you,” Levi said. “Scotty is going to spend the night at his grandparents’ house, but when I drive you back after brunch, I might be able to stay for dinner, maybe the night.”

  I smiled. “Of course. However it works.”

  Scotty and my dad talked baseball stats for a while, and Levi laughed that finally, finally, Scotty had found a kindred spirit, someone who appreciated the history of the game as much as he did.

  When Scotty got tired, I walked them to the door, where Levi gave me a kiss good night and pulled me close. “If Scotty is OK at my parents’ house tomorrow night, I’ll come down and spend it with you.”