He held up a hand to silence everyone when they protested. Even Natalie felt her heart stutter in her chest. At first, she’d thought the idea of Six Days of Christmas was so cheesy and almost childish, but she’d grown to love the celebration over the last week. For the first time, she understood what Christmas really meant.
Stan continued. “I’ve thought long and hard about this. I wanted to do it this year with Anne, since it is our first year married, but I want to start new traditions with Anne for future Christmases. You all are welcome to continue with the Six Days of Christmas tradition in your own family, of course.” Stan put his hand on Anne’s shoulder, and Natalie felt a twinge of longing at the way they smiled at each other. “But for us, we want to start something new.”
Natalie looked around at Stan’s kids—their faces had mixed expressions of sadness and irritation. She had a feeling there’d be a lot of talking about it this afternoon with Stan, but Natalie guessed that he wasn’t going to budge one bit.
“Before then, though, we want to end this the way it started. With a chain.” Stan reached behind the door and pulled out a basket filled with strips of red, green, and white papers. “Everyone take a handful of papers when they come your way.”
Natalie reached her hand in and grabbed a pen and a small stack of papers, then handed the basket on to Jimmy.
“This is a happiness chain. I want you to write on your slips of paper your memories. Memories of your mom, your dad, your parents, your favorite Christmases, this Christmas, anything. Remember, they need to be happy memories, since this is a happiness chain. After that, I promise we can open presents and eat those yummy cinnamon rolls Anne made us all for breakfast.”
Natalie stared down at the slips, unable to imagine how sad Stan’s kids would be about the end of this tradition that had carried them through such a hard time. The end of this tradition even bummed Natalie out, and she’d had a bad attitude for most of it.
She fingered her slips of paper, deciding what to write. Happy memories.
The surprise supplies I helped mom and dad deliver to a South African school Christmas day my sophomore year of high school
The sliver locket my parents gave me the Christmas before I graduated from high school.
Coming home with Janessa.
Singing Christmas carols by the fire.
The peace of Christmas Eve.
“What’d you write?” Jimmy asked, looking over her shoulder.
Natalie pulled her papers close to her chest. “No way. I’m not falling for that one again.”
Jimmy laughed and handed her his slips of paper. “Mom asked me to help her carry in cups of hot chocolate. Can you stick mine on the chain?”
“Sure.” Natalie waited until he left the room then couldn’t resist glancing at them.
Doing the Twelve Days of Christmas with Natalie.
Jumping in the pool with Natalie.
Talking with Natalie.
Kissing Natalie.
Natalie felt her face heat up and she hurriedly turned the slips of paper so they faced down. These were some of his best Christmas memories?
Stan walked around so that people could start adding their slips of paper to the chain. Natalie saw him talk seriously with some of his kids, but in the end, they seemed to be mostly okay with Stan’s announcement. She wouldn’t be surprised if they carried on the Six Days of Christmas tradition with their own family. She was tempted to do it herself.
“Are you having a good Christmas, Natalie?” Stan asked, when it was her turn to add to the chain. She took the stapler from him and added Jimmy’s happy memories first.
“One of the best ever, actually.” She finished stapling her memories on, but caught the arm of Stan’s sweater before he could walk away. “Thank you.”
Stan squeezed her shoulder and said, “No thanks needed. Take some time today and read the chain.”
“Okay,” Natalie said. She sat back on the couch next to Janessa and rested her head back. “I don’t want to go back to real life.”
“Me neither. Let’s just drop out and move in with my mom and Stan. I don’t know what he does for New Year’s or Valentine’s Day, but it’s got to be fun.”
“Maybe he has a million baby cupid statues, and he and your mom will go do archery for the day.”
“Wearing matching red heart sweaters.”
The girls looked at each other and busted out laughing.
“What are you two laughing about?” Jimmy asked, a cup of hot chocolate in each hand. He gave one to Natalie and one to Janessa.
“How we’re going to drop out of school and wear red heart sweaters,” Natalie answered.
“Right.”
“Come sit with us and watch the kids open their presents.” Janessa scooted over and patted the seat between her and Natalie.
“Don’t mind if I do.” Jimmy’s solid body rested closely against Natalie’s. Stan had finished making the chain and he strung it all over the room and around the doorway.
“Thank you, everyone. You have made this Christmas one of the most special ones I’ve had. So I’ll stop torturing my grandkids now and let you open presents!”
The kids cheered and dug into their gifts. Anne sat next to the tree, beside the kids, and handed presents out to the adults.
“You didn’t read my memories, did you?” Jimmy whispered, taking a gift from his mom.
She nodded and sucked in her bottom lip to keep from smiling.
“Good.” He smiled and opened a sweater from Stan and his mom. The present opening continued for almost another hour, until wrapping paper littered the floor and presents piled high.
“There’s one more gift here,” Anne said, snagging one last gift from under the tree. “Natalie,” she read from the tag. The doorbell rang and Stan jumped up to go grab it.
Natalie took the gift, glancing suspiciously at Jimmy. He looked happy. Too happy. “Do I want to open this gift?”
His wide smile was the only answer she received. She slowly slid her finger into the wrapping. “If this is another pair of granny underwear, I swear, I will hurt you.”
“Just open it, Natalie.” Natalie. There was her full name coming from his mouth again. So weird, and yet, she loved it.
She unpeeled the paper to the white box, then opened the white box with trepidation. She looked in confusion at the folded paper inside.
“I didn’t have time to do anything fancy with it or anything, so . . .” Jimmy wiped his hands on his pants.
Natalie pulled the paper out and opened it.
Our Dearest Natalie, it began. She scanned to the end of the letter, signed with her parents’ names.
“How . . .?”
“I emailed them.”
Janessa jumped in. “And called them, and emailed them again. And called the village the orphanage is in. And got a friend of his who can speak Spanish to help. Don’t let him fool you, Natalie. This took a lot of hard work for him to get this letter in time for this morning.”
“It really wasn’t that big of a deal.”
Natalie blinked back the tears in her eyes. A letter from her parents to read on Christmas Day. She’d assumed that she’d hear from them sometime next week when they got to another phone or computer. “It’s a huge deal to me. Thank you.”
Jimmy did this for her. It was amazing. He was amazing. How could she have missed it all these years? She found herself leaning forward, not caring that all of these people were about to witness her and Jimmy kiss.
“Natalie.”
Natalie stopped moving, her heart falling all the way to her feet. She swiveled toward the doorway.
Grant.
Dressed casually for Grant, he had on a pair of pressed khaki pants and a blue checkered button up shirt. In one hand he held a gift-wrapped package, and in the other, he had a small bouquet of flowers that he handed to Anne. Jimmy scooted away from her and Natalie sensed a barrier rising up between them. She wanted to scream in frustration.
“Mer
ry Christmas.” Grant came closer and gathered Natalie into his arms.
Natalie pulled away, pressing her back into the couch. “What are you doing here, Grant?”
“I told you I was coming for Christmas.”
“Yeah, but you’re mad at me. We haven’t spoken in days.”
Grant nodded, then reached forward and took Natalie’s hand. “It’s okay. I’ve had time to think about it, and you mean more to me than any contract. I forgive you.”
“How generous of you,” Jimmy said under his breath.
Grant stood up straight and turned his piercing lawyer gaze toward Jimmy. “And you are?”
“James Ash.”
“Well, James, I don’t see how this is any of your business.”
“Grant! Stop.”
“He can’t stop, Natalie. It’s in his make-up to be rude and controlling,” Janessa said.
Grant raised an eyebrow at Janessa. “Merry Christmas, Janessa. Full of your usual snark, I see.”
“Merry Christmas, Grant. Still full of yourself, I see,” Janessa replied.
“Please, guys.” Natalie put her fingers up to her temples when their bickering continued. Any peace from the night before had pretty much vanished.
“Don’t be so ignorant as to mistake confidence for arrogance,” Grant continued.
“Did you just call my sister ignorant?” Jimmy asked, stepping forward.
“Jimmy.” Natalie placed a hand on his arm and tried to communicate with him to help her.
He nodded tersely and stepped back. “I’m going to see if Stan needs help with dinner.”
“I’ll come with you.” Janessa shot Grant another glare before following Jimmy into the kitchen.
“A pleasant bunch,” Grant said.
“They’re my friends.”
“And if I didn’t know what a soft heart you have when it comes to people, I might question your judgment. Here. Open your gift.”
Natalie took the professionally wrapped box from him, trying to not be irritated about his comments to Janessa and Jimmy. She finished unwrapping her gift and saw that Grant had bought her the tablet she’d been wanting but couldn’t afford. And Grant didn’t have the money for this kind of gift, either.
“Grant, how did you afford this?”
“I got the promotion, Natalie.”
“Wow. Congratulations.”
Grant leaned closer to her, excitement evident as he turned her gift on. “I’ve already got your account all set up and our calendars are synched.”
Natalie clicked into the calendar and saw their schedules laid out, color coded to separate Grant’s schedule from her own. She studied her ordered life, everything boxes and lines, appointments and meetings. The calendar of the lives of two successful people, all planned. No spontaneity, all structure. Exactly what she’d always wanted.
He ran his thumb down her neck and leaned closer. “I want to spend Christmas with you, Natalie, not Janessa and her whole family. Come home with me.”
Natalie shook her head. She wasn’t ready to leave yet. “They’re planning on me staying for dinner.”
“What’s one person? It’ll be more leftovers for tomorrow. They’ve had you all week. It’s my turn.”
“I don’t know, Grant.”
“Please?”
Natalie sighed and looked over Grant’s shoulder. Jimmy stood in the doorway watching them, his arms folded across his chest. Natalie met his blank expression, pleading him for . . . what? Understanding? Help in making a decision? It didn’t matter anyway, because Jimmy turned from the room and walked away before Natalie could figure it out.
And just like that—before she’d ever really even had him—she’d lost him. She could chase after him, tell him that last night was one of the best nights of her life, but Natalie Ekins didn’t do things like that. Her future was found in boxes, lines, order, and goals. Not in a tangled mess of paper and chains with a man who wouldn’t stop teasing her. Who helped her to not take life so seriously.
“I’ll go pack.”
She stood and left the colorful and noisy room, filled with the sounds of Christmas music and family, and slowly went upstairs.
Why did what she always thought she wanted not feel so great anymore?
While she packed her bag, Janessa came upstairs. She picked at the polish on her fingernails casually, but Natalie knew the angry habit for what it was. “You’re not really going home with him, are you?”
Natalie took a deep breath and slapped a smile on her face. “Of course, I am. My boyfriend wants to spend Christmas with me.”
“You can’t fool me, Nat. One minute in his presence and all the ease I’ve seen in you all week is gone.”
“I am who I am, Janessa. I belong with Grant.”
“And what about Jimmy?”
Natalie swallowed the lump that rose in her throat. Unable to speak, she focused on folding her shirts into her suitcase. When Natalie didn’t answer, Janessa turned and left the room, banging the door closed behind her. Natalie sat on the bed, resting her head in her hands, not so sure she was making the right decision anymore.
Going with Grant made sense. Staying here with Jimmy was risky. He didn’t have a job. He called her by a childhood nickname that constantly reminded her of a seriously undignified moment in her life. They lived three hours apart. He was everything topsy-turvy she’d never wanted.
Natalie groaned and finished packing the rest of her clothes. They’d all fallen into the magic of the Christmas season. It was time to get back to real life. Throwing the last pair of jeans into the suitcase, she zipped it up and dragged it to the door. Taking one last look at the room, she spotted a wrapped box under the bed. The waxing kit. She was going to give it to Jimmy to tease him today and had completely forgotten in the excitement of the morning and then Grant showing up.
She picked the box up and turned it over in her hands. She should still give it to him. No matter what, they were still friends. She walked to his room and set it on his bed, laughing when she thought about the night he’d come home for Christmas and scared her to death by crawling into bed with her. She needed to do more for him than just leave a gag gift.
Grabbing a piece of notebook paper from his desk, she ripped a slip off of it and after debating for a moment, knew exactly what to write. Afterward, she curled it into a circle and stapled it together, like she would if it were going to go on the happiness chain.
Then she set it on top of the box, turned from the room, and walked away.
Anne grabbed Natalie into another one of her signature hugs when she stepped into the kitchen to say goodbye, and this time Natalie hugged her back just as tight. “I’m so glad you came, Natalie.”
“We’re going to miss you,” Stan said, starting with a handshake, then pulling her into a hug as well. “Did you get the chance to look at the happiness chain yet?”
Natalie shook her head. “I’ll look at it on my way out.”
“Are you sure you can’t stay for lunch? It’ll be ready in about an hour.”
“Thank you, but we can’t,” Grant cut in. “I’d like to get back.”
Grant took Natalie’s hand and led her toward the door, but she tugged back. “I want to go take a peek at that chain. Take my bag out to my car, and I’ll meet you out there in a few minutes?”
She could tell Grant wasn’t happy—patience had never been one of his strong suits—but he gave her a terse nod and left.
She slipped cautiously into the room, but there was no need. Jimmy wasn’t in there. Janessa glanced up at her, but then turned her attention back to the baby in her lap. Natalie walked around the room, caught up in the memories written on the chain.
Mom’s special Christmas Eve carrot cake.
Winning capture the flag.
Holding a sweet little baby all week.
The guitar Dad bought me one year.
The happiness chain after Mom died.
Natalie ran her hands gently around the chain, a sense of nost
algia rising in her. She continued to read through them, stopping when she got to the beginning of the chain. There, in Stan’s undeniable scrawl was written:
Watching Natalie believe in the magic of Christmas.
She stared at the words, her heart filling so full with love that it threatened to burst from her chest. These people were good people. Stan—with his over-the-top decorating and celebrating, Anne—welcoming her into their home, Janessa—a loyal friend who wanted what was best for her even if she didn’t agree with Natalie’s decisions, and Jimmy—who challenged her, infuriated her, kissed her, loved her for her.
“Natalie, let’s head out. I want to leave before it rains any worse.” Grant came into the room, batting away a part of the happiness chain that had drooped into the doorway. He continued to push through it, tearing it in half. The edges fell to the ground and Grant brushed some moisture from his coat onto the fallen papers.
Natalie froze and stared at this man who had just casually stepped on something that meant so much to her—to the whole family—like it was nothing. It was just something in his way that he needed to plow through in order to get what he wanted. Just like he did with everything else in his life.
“No.”
Grant stopped adjusting his coat and looked up at Natalie. “What?”
Natalie shored up every shred of courage to make a decision that didn’t make any sense. “I’m staying.”
“Nat, I’ve got to get back early so I can go in to work tomorrow. And you’ve still got to finish up the Alderman thing, right? There’s way too much distraction here. Come on.”
The room went silent around them, as if even the children felt the tension coming from Grant and Natalie. In the background, “Sleigh Ride” played quiety from the speakers.
“No, Grant.” She softened the firmness of her voice and stepped closer. “I don’t want to keep doing this anymore.”
All I Want (Three Holiday Romances) Page 14