by Amy Ruttan
“I’m sorry for that.”
“No, it’s not your fault.” She smiled. “It was mine. I was too stubborn.”
Zac grinned. “You are stubborn.”
“I love you, Zac. Wherever you go, I’ll go too. I don’t want to be alone. I need you to make me whole too.”
“I’m going to make this Christmas right. For both of us. It’s time for our magic now. Our happiness.” He got down on one knee slowly and then pulled out a box. “This was set aside for me, long before I realized that our parents were right and that we were meant to be together.” He opened the box with one hand and against the blue crushed velvet was the Davenport ring with the pink emerald-cut diamond.
“Ella, will you marry me?”
Ella began to cry and she nodded. “Yes!”
Zac stood up and then pulled her close with his one good arm and kissed her. She held him tightly. Her heart was bursting with happiness she hadn’t known was possible. For so long she’d dreamt about this moment. She couldn’t believe that it was here. That it was happening.
And on Christmas. She had never been a huge fan of Christmas. For years it had meant torture with her family, but this...this was like resetting everything. It would be something she could look back on and cherish forever.
A wrong being set right. Her real family being formed and the missing piece of her heart being patched back together.
“I’m so in love with you,” he whispered against her ear. “I’m sorry for everything I did. I promise I’ll never hurt you again. I can’t lose you.”
She nodded. “I love you.”
He slipped the ring on her finger and then smiled down at her hand in his. “It’s like it was made for you.”
“Yeah, it does appear that way.” She stood on tiptoe and kissed him again. “I love you.”
“I know,” he teased. “How would you like to spend Christmas Day?”
“In bed,” she said wearily.
His eyebrows shot up. “Well, I’ll see what I can do with one arm.”
Ella laughed. “As much as I would like that, I would rather sleep. I’m exhausted. It feels like I’ve worked for a year. Maybe we can watch some Christmas movies later and order in, if there’s a place open, and just lounge around in bed.”
“Sleep sounds great,” he said with relief in his voice. He took her hand and they headed to her bedroom.
“By the way, how did you know where I lived?” she asked. “I don’t remember ever telling you where my grandmother’s apartment was.”
“Easy. I live upstairs.”
She gasped. “You’re the neighbor who is loud in the middle of the night, dropping weights?”
“Guilty.” He winked. “You know, I could buy the apartment above from Charles and we could put in a staircase. Spread out a bit in case we have a family.”
That caused her eyes to fill with happy tears. The thought of a baby, of a family was almost too be good to be true. She held him close.
“I would say let’s get a start on that, but I really am tired.”
He chuckled. “We have all the time in the world.”
“Not really,” Ella said. “Once my mother finds out she’s going to want us married as soon as possible.”
“Why?” Zac asked.
“She’s been planning this wedding for years, Zac. She’s not going to wait any longer.”
Zac chuckled. “Very true.”
They went hand in hand to bed. They fell asleep in each other’s arms, sleeping together like they had for years long ago.
It was home.
And for the first Christmas in a long time she wasn’t lonely any more.
She was whole.
Finally.
EPILOGUE
One year later, Christmas Eve
“THIS TIME LAST year New York City was caught in a blizzard like no other! Do you remember that, Chuck?”
“I do, Frank. Although there will be snow in the forecast tonight, Old Saint Nick isn’t going to give us a wintry blast like last year. Thank goodness. Now, here’s a great old song to put you in the Christmas spirit.”
“Mom, turn that off!” Ella shouted over her shoulder as she set down her wedding dress on her bed. She couldn’t believe that someone had left on a radio tuned to that Christmas music station again! Frank and Chuck drove her squirrelly at this time of year. Just like they had last year when she’d been coming off her shift at Manhattan Mercy and had learned that she was going to have to stay at the hospital because the city had shut down.
That storm had been monumental for the city. And for her, because during that storm she had been forced to work with Zac and that’s when they had come together.
Although the storm had done so much damage, for her it was a fond memory. Her first magical Christmas and hopefully not her last.
For her, it was the storm that had washed away the remnants of her old life, making her ready for her new one. And after tonight she was going to officially be a Davenport.
Although she planned on keeping her last name, much to her mother’s chagrin. There were enough Dr. Davenports at Manhattan Mercy to contend with, whereas there was only one Dr. Lockwood.
It would make things so much easier.
Her mother had been horrified when she’d told her that.
“Ella, that’s just not done. You need to take your husband’s name.”
“Mom, it will be so much easier on the staff at the hospital if I keep Lockwood.”
“Easier on the staff? Who cares about the staff?”
“I do! So it’s settled. I’m still Ella Lockwood, but I’m legally married to a Davenport. You can still tell all your friends that your daughter married a Davenport.”
“I didn’t turn it on, Ella,” her mother said. “I think it was the construction workers. Honestly, you should’ve got ready for the wedding in Long Island, not in the middle of renovations,” her mother complained as she looked at a ladder leaning against the wall.
“The renovations aren’t that bad, Mom. They’re almost done. We just can’t use the stairs to Zac’s apartment until the safety inspector comes after Christmas. Besides, I’m marrying Zac on top of Manhattan Mercy so Long Island wouldn’t make any sense. What if the storm picked up and I was stranded at your place? The Davenports might think I jilted their son.”
Her mother’s eyes narrowed and her lips pursed. “That’s not funny, Ella.”
“Mom, you need to lighten up. Seriously.” In the past Ella would have been annoyed that she was with her mother in a confined space and arguing with her, but since Zac had come back into her life she’d learned to lighten up as well.
Dr. Lockwood was still a force to be reckoned with at Manhattan Mercy, but she wasn’t as scary as she had been before. She wasn’t as serious.
In the past that would’ve made her nervous, but now with Zac by her side she was a different force to be reckoned with and she couldn’t remember a time in her life when she had been this happy.
“I don’t understand why we’re not getting ready at the hospital, then,” her mother complained. “Not that a hospital is a suitable place.”
“Mom, Zac and I wanted it at the hospital. And Zac didn’t want me to get ready at the hospital because he said he had a surprise for me.”
Her mother rolled her eyes. “I should’ve taken care of this wedding with Zac’s Mom Vanessa. We could’ve come up with something elegant. Something that would be the talk of the town.”
“Zac and I didn’t want that. We wanted something different.”
Her mother shook her head. “I know, but on the roof of the hospital on Christmas Eve?”
Ella smiled. “It’s perfect.”
Her mother just threw up her hands and left the bedroom, probably inwardly
cursing the folly of her daughter’s decision.
And Ella couldn’t blame her. She knew that her mother had been scheming for this marriage for a long time and probably had it built up in her head about how it would go. Whereas she and Zac had their own ideas about how their wedding was going to go and she was excited.
She’d made her peace with her mother. And her mother had apologized. Their relationship wasn’t perfect, but it was getting a bit better all the time.
Even Zac had mended bridges with his father. Things were looking up.
And one of the best parts of this wedding was that Ella had picked out the wedding gown herself. She wouldn’t let her mother even see it. It was a secret. Even though that had driven her mother batty, she’d wanted to choose her wedding dress herself.
Her mother was done picking out dresses for her.
Ella got dressed in the beautiful lace, three-quarter sleeve gown, the dress that she had picked out. Her mother had wanted something that would make her look like a giant meringue.
And the shoes had almost made her mother have a heart attack when Ella had chosen red high heels with crystals up the back. A nice, bright Christmas red to contrast with the white.
When she was all dressed and came out of her bedroom, her mother was scowling, but then her expression softened and the pride, the approval that her mother had always felt she had to hide from her daughters was there.
Sylvia Lockwood couldn’t hold it in any more.
“Oh, Ella, you look so lovely. That’s a beautiful dress! Henry, come and look at your daughter.”
Ella twirled around as her father, who had been hiding in Zac’s study, came out.
“You look beautiful!”
“I’m going to freeze.” Ella smiled. “But I love this dress.”
“It’s perfect. I was wrong and you were right.”
“Even about the shoes?” Ella teased as she lifted the hem of her skirt and wiggled her red high-heeled shoe at her mother.
Her father was chuckling as he walked away.
“Even the shoes,” her mother admitted. “It will go well with your bouquet of red roses.”
There was a buzz and her father answered, “Yes?”
“The transportation has arrived for Dr. Lockwood,” the doorman said.
“We’ll be down momentarily.” Her father turned around, scratching his head. “That was an odd thing to say.”
“What?” Ella asked.
“He said transportation. Not limousine or hired car or even taxi.”
Ella shrugged. “Oh, well, we’d better get to the hospital. It’s getting dark.”
Sylvia and Henry grabbed their coats and her father helped Ella put on her white-trimmed wrap. They took the elevator down and the doorman was smiling as he opened the door for her. Ella gasped when she saw a horse-drawn carriage was waiting for her. It looked a bit like a princess’s carriage, like Cinderella’s carriage, except it was open.
It was a bit gaudy and had her mother’s approval written all over it. Ella couldn’t help but laugh, but she loved the gesture all the same.
“Oh, how lovely!” Her mother gasped. “But I thought carriages weren’t allowed out of Central Park?”
“Special permit,” the carriage driver said. “Good thing there’s no snow on the streets or we’d have a hard time doing this.”
“See, Sylvia I told you it would be a perfectly acceptable wedding,” her father said. “Come on, Ella, let’s get you up there.”
Her father and the footman helped Ella into the carriage. And then her mother was seated across from her before her father climbed in. A blanket was put over them so it would protect her dress. Snow was falling lightly as the lights in Central Park started to come on.
The city was coming alive with Christmas magic.
Unlike last year, when the city had been shutting down because of a snowstorm of epic proportions. The night was calm. And as the carriage navigated the streets of Manhattan Ella got to enjoy the magic of a wintry wonderland and the lights, the rush of people and the gently falling snow.
All too soon they were pulling up in front of the hospital, much to the shock and delight of patients and staff who were coming and going.
There was shouts of “Merry Christmas!” and good wishes as she climbed down from the carriage. Her mother holding her train as they climbed up the steps and entered the hospital’s main entrance.
“Perhaps we should’ve gone in through the ambulance bay?” her father said.
“No, it’s bad luck, Dad. No emergency room doctor worth their salt enters the hospital at the start of their shift through the emergency room doors.”
“We can’t have bad luck, Henry!” her mother said, then she grinned. “This is perfectly fine.”
“Yes, of course, Sylvia and Ella.”
There was a regular elevator waiting for her and Gabriel Jackson was grinning as he stood in front of the elevator, looking devastatingly handsome in a tuxedo.
“Zac wanted to make sure you got up there safely.” Gabriel grinned and shook her father’s hand as they all climbed inside. “Penny is very excited to see your dress.”
Ella smiled. “I’m sorry to be ruining your first Christmas as parents, Gabriel.”
“Penny wouldn’t miss her brother’s wedding for anything and it was a perfect excuse to buy a gorgeous dress for our little girl.”
Ella sighed happily as the elevator went up to the roof. There was a small room where the Davenports and her siblings were waiting. Zac and Charles weren’t there. They were outside. She could see them through the windows. Zac had his back to the windows as the snow fell over a beautiful wintry wonderland.
White Christmas lights twinkled over an archway that had been constructed with evergreen boughs and a Christmas tree was off to the side, covered in more white lights. Around them was the backdrop of New York City, the tall buildings overshadowing them, but as the sun set the city lights made the snow look warm, with a glow.
Everyone else was waiting in the warmth for the bride to arrive. And when she got off the elevator she heard Penny gasp in joy. She was holding her little girl, who was seven months old and looked absolutely precious in a red Christmas dress.
Grace was grinning, standing with Charles’s twin boys, who were wearing tuxedoes similar to their father’s.
Beside Grace were Hugo and Vanessa Davenport, Zac’s parents. They came forward, and even though there was tension between the two of them, they wished her well and then moved on to greet her parents. And Ella hoped one day that Hugo and Vanessa could overcome their differences, but today was not that day.
“Congratulations,” Helena said, giving her a quick hug. Helena was another ER doctor and married to Zac’s brother Elijah.
“How are you feeling?” Ella asked, because Helena had just given birth to their baby a couple of weeks ago. All of Zac’s siblings and respective spouses, soon to be her family too were at the wedding. Elijah and Jude were chatting with Gabriel and Mateo, gently swinging a baby carrier. The baby was sleeping soundly in a warm little bag that was made for cold weather.
“Tired. Have you told anyone...?”
Ella held up her finger. “No. Not yet.”
Miranda, Zac’s sister and Sarah who was married to Zac’s brother Jude came over, having overheard. “Well, you need to tell people soon so that I can tell people my news.”
The four of them laughed together at the shared secret. Ella and Miranda were both pregnant. This time next year there would be a lot of children at the Davenport Christmas function.
Helena winked and went to join Gabriel and Penny.
“Are we ready?” Charles asked, coming inside and brushing the snow off his shoulder.
“I believe so, young man,” Henry said.
Charles grinn
ed and then went back outside. Their guests filtered outside to the chairs, braving the cold but still bundled up. The reception was taking place at the Ritz-Carlton, where a lot more of the staff could attend, but for the wedding ceremony it was just the Davenports and the Lockwoods. Charles had become licensed to officiate over the ceremony, since he was the one who had talked some sense into Zac and had been responsible for making sure that Zac got the Davenport ring, which twinkled on Ella’s finger in the dim light.
Her eldest sister, Francis was her maid of honor and Ella’s older brother, John escorted her mother down the aisle, with her middle sister following a few moments later.
“You ready?” her father asked.
“Oh, yes. More than ready.”
Henry nodded and squeezed her arm tightly. The doors were opened and a string quartet she hadn’t noticed right away began to play “Canon in D” by Pachelbel.
It was then that Zac turned around to see her. He smiled that charming smile that she’d fallen in love with, his dark hair covered with thick white snowflakes.
Ella had to choke back the emotions that were rushing through her as she walked toward her future.
Her destiny.
Finally, the worst mistake of her life had been healed. Her heart was whole again.
“Who gives this woman to this man?” Charles asked.
“Her mother and I do,” her father said, bending over and kissing her on the cheek as he handed her over to Zac and took his place next to her mother.
Hugo and Vanessa were smiling, their pride for their son evident on their face.
Ella didn’t really hear the words that Charles was saying, she was lost in looking up at Zac. He was grinning at her and she was trying very hard not to cry.
She was also trying hard not to shiver in the cold.
“Do you, Ella Jane Lockwood, take Zachary Xavier Davenport to be your lawfully wedded husband?” Charles asked.
“I do,” she said.
“And do you, Zachary Xavier Davenport, take Ella Jane Lockwood to be your lawfully wedded wife?”