Crush: A YA Romance Collection

by Lavinia Leigh

  The idea of this baby with drool soaking the front of her bib becoming an adult was weird to think about. It was hard to imagine her tall, with hair, saying proper words, but it would happen whether she wanted it to or not. She would grow and become more and more her own person. Emmeline wanted Millie to grow to want more in life than to accept the status quo, to fight hard for what she wanted. Emmeline realized that for that to happen, she would have to conquer in the same fight. Right now, she would have to fight for Nicholas. She still wasn’t sure if she had screwed up by talking to Dorothy, but that was in the past, and he needed to accept the situation that they were in right now. Emmeline would have to make him see that.

  The wind howled outside, rushing between the train cars and the train station. A train blew by, the first one for several hours, surprising her. She looked at the time. Another hour and Nicholas’s shift would be over. She hoped that he would be coming back, and that he would be in the mood for talking.

  She put Millie to bed, reading her a story first. She only had one story, but she read it to her every night, even though the reading level was way beyond her six months.

  “Evangelina Magdalina Rose Beth Murtz was waiting for the best day ever to begin,” she started. Emmeline could recite the words to the book by heart. Millie’s eyes closed halfway through the story, and Emmeline put her into her playpen bed with her cuddle blanket, and then paced the floors anxiously as she waited for Nicolas to return. This was when she longed for a TV to put on a movie or lose herself in some TV show. Instead, she pulled out a stack of cards and played solitaire until she heard a thump outside that made her stomach clench. A few moments later, the door opened.

  He was home.

  “Nicholas,” she began as he took off his coat. “I am so sorry, please, you have to forgive me.”

  “Come here,” he said. “Wait, did you do that?” He seemed to notice for the first time the lights strung up in the shape of a tree.

  “Nah, Millie did it,” she said cheekily. “You know that girl, the queen of craftiness.” Then she kicked herself; this wasn’t the time to be silly, and she was getting distracted.

  “She did a good job.”

  He got her.

  “Come here,” he said, and she went. He wrapped his arms around her and they stared at the tree. He stood a head taller than her, and she felt so safe in his arms.

  He bent his head down and snuggled in, placing small kisses on her neck. Her entire body relaxed.

  “Thank you,” he said finally.

  “For what?” Emmeline asked, lifting her head too abruptly.

  He laughed. “You know. I was so stunned that you went over there to talk to Mom, I didn’t know what to say. I know how you feel about her. I know what that cost you.”

  “I hate seeing you upset. I had to do it. I just wish it worked.”

  “It doesn’t matter. She drew her line in the sand, and I will too.” He reached into his pocket and pulled something small and shiny out of it. Emmeline gasped. He held the ring fitted with a tiny diamond in front of her.

  “I can’t afford much, and well, if I’m honest, this was left in the lost and found bucket at the station. It’s been there for a year and no one has claimed it. So, I decided that it needed a new home. Will you—not today, maybe sometime way later, you know, when we have figured this thing all out—but you know not that far away—man, I am screwing this up.”

  “Yes, oh please yes!” She looked deep into his eyes, which shone, reflecting the sparkly Christmas lights.

  “Wait! You have to wait until I get the words out!”

  “Okay, then get on with it.”

  “Emmeline Hope, will you…”

  “Yes!”

  “No, wait! Maybe I won’t ask you if you keep interrupting me.”

  She gave him a fake scowl.

  “Emmeline, will you marry me?” The words came out quickly.

  “No.”

  “What?”

  “Yes, of course, yes! But are you sure?”

  “After what you did, putting aside your own feelings to try and make things better, if I ever had any doubts, they are gone. Forever gone. You and I will be together for the rest of our lives, and if my mother can’t handle that, then she’ll just have to live the rest of her life without us.”

  She kissed him. There was no more talking. How could there be? Joy spread through her whole body and she couldn’t remember ever feeling so happy.

  Chapter 14

  Christmas came and went, and Emmeline hadn’t told anyone about the engagement. It was something so close to her heart that she wasn’t quite ready to tell the world yet. She wanted to savor the feeling, linger in the joy before hearing from those around her that they were too young to get married, or they were making yet another mistake.

  Nicholas didn’t care who knew; he was bursting at the seams to share the news, but respected her wishes and didn’t say anything. Emmeline promised as soon as the Christmas craziness was over they would start telling the world. If she was being honest, she couldn’t wait to start planning their wedding, but she loved this magical quiet time where they could just be happy. By the time New Year’s Day came around, she was more than ready to announce their engagement, and Ginny was first on her list.

  “Really?” Ginny screamed into the phone the moment the news had left Emmeline’s lips. “I’m so happy for you guys! You guys really are the perfect couple!”

  “Thank you,” Emmeline squealed, glancing down at the little diamond on her left finger. It had been a pain to have to take it off over the holidays. Any hint of a ring and everyone would be suspicious. They had spent most of Christmas day at her parents’ house, and it was hard to keep the news to herself, but she was determined not to have Millie’s first Christmas overshadowed by what was sure to be their immediate disapproval.

  “We need to do something to celebrate,” said Ginny. Emmeline could hear the happiness rising in her voice. That meant a plan. Probably one that she couldn’t say no to.

  “What do you want to do?” she asked cautiously.

  Ginny was quiet for half a second, and then said, “Don’t worry about it. I have it covered. Just meet me at my house at noon, and dress for outside.”

  “What’s going on?” asked Nicholas as Emmeline hung up the phone.

  “I don’t know, but she was really happy when I told her about the engagement. We’re supposed to be at her house for lunch time.”

  “Of course she would be.” He threaded his arms around her waist and nuzzled her neck. She could feel his morning excitement pressing into her back, and her body shivered in response.

  “She wants us to dress for outside, whatever it is. Isn’t it supposed to be super cold today?” Emmeline’s forehead creased and she looked at Millie. Her daughter rocked back and forth on all fours. She was threatening to crawl any day now.

  “Millie will be fine.”

  “I suppose,” she said, unconvinced, and then started going through Millie’s clothes, trying to find her warmest sweaters. By the time they were ready to leave, Millie had three layers on under her snowsuit and her face was pink from screaming at the top of her lungs.

  “There is no way we’re going to be able to do up her car seat with all these clothes on her,” Nicholas said, comparing the seat and his daughter, who seemed to have quadrupled in size in the past few minutes.

  “We’ll just have to make it work,” Emmeline said, loosening the straps on the car seat to wedge Millie into it.

  A few minutes later they were pulling up to Ginny’s house. She stood outside waiting for them in her black parka and a long red scarf.

  “There you are! We’re just waiting for Callum. You have told him, right?”

  “We’re going to the next time we see him,” Emmeline answered.

  “He should be here any minute; I figured you guys wouldn’t mind. Follow me.” Her eyes danced as snowflakes softly fell through the trees, adding an extra inch to the ground covering what was alread
y there.

  Nicholas leaned over and commented, “She seems far too happy—maybe the snow has frozen her brain!”

  Emmeline elbowed him in the gut.

  They followed her behind the house, where Ginny had set up a small picnic in a wooded area where the trees formed a semi-circle. It looked like she had everything planned down to the final perfect detail. How she did that was beyond Emmeline. Ginny’s brain seemed to work on an entirely different level.

  It was adorable, with logs propped up make miniature tables and a plaid blanket lying on the snow. A small portable barbecue sizzled away.

  “What is this?” asked Emmeline.

  “This is your engagement party! I know you haven’t exactly told a lot of people, but we can still celebrate with just us, right?” She shrugged her shoulders.

  “You did all this for us?” Nicholas asked, obviously really touched. It was nice to have friends like this. Ones who were there through the bad times and were the first to celebrate the good. Emmeline put Millie down on the plaid quilt to let her play. She was almost seven months old now, and showed signs of being tall like her father. Emmeline regularly searched her face to see traces of herself, but other than the mole, Millie was all Nicholas.

  “Of course, I did!”

  “What’s going on?” Callum asked, his boots crunching through the snow as he approached.

  “We’re having a picnic!” Ginny beamed.

  “Ginny, it’s fifteen degrees below freezing!”

  “I don’t understand what your point is?”

  “You have picnics in the summer, not in the winter.”

  “Says who?”

  “Says all the sane people in the world.”

  “Since when are you going to let those stupid people tell you what to do?”

  Callum groaned, clearly knowing that he wasn’t going to win. “So, we are really doing this?” He looked at Nicholas, who nodded his head.

  “Hush up, Callum,” said Ginny. “You haven’t heard why we’re doing this yet!”

  “What’s going on?”

  In response to Callum’s question, Emmeline instinctively pulled her mitt off and showed her ring. There was something in Callum’s eye. For a brief moment he looked like he had been hit in the gut, and then he smiled wide. “Really, guys? Nicky, you gonna make an honest woman out of her?”

  Nicholas smiled. “In a heartbeat.”

  “I don’t blame you in the slightest.”

  “Food, everyone, food! Get it while it’s hot,” Ginny said as she opened the lid for the portable BBQ. Emmeline pulled out a few buns and put them on the paper plates that Ginny had brought.

  Everyone helped themselves, hoping that the warm food would help to improve their internal temperature.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me, Ginny,” Callum said after taking a hard, tooth-jarring bite out of the end of his hot dog. “This is already frozen!”

  “You should have eaten it faster,” teased Ginny. “Ah, guys, I’m sorry. I wanted to have a little celebration at least. This is a big deal; my best friends are getting married.”

  “Aw, Ginny, thank you, but please tell me we don’t actually have to eat these ice cube hot dogs,” Nicholas said.

  “Yes, you do! I spent all morning working on this, the least you can do is to try it.”

  Emmeline smiled and tried hers. The bun was crusty from the cold, and the half-frozen meat, charred on the outside, was anything but appetizing. The grimace she made was unmistakable.

  “Really, that bad?” asked Ginny.

  “Sorry.”

  “You should see some of the things that Emmeline cooks up these days. It’s amazing. I think I might be gaining a few pounds,” Nicholas said, contentedly patting his belly.

  Emmeline slightly blushed. “I think I might like to go to school one day to learn to be a pastry chef, actually. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. I’m almost finished with my high school courses, and I need to make some sort of plan as to what I’ll do next.”

  “That’s great. I had no idea you were serious about it,” Callum said, putting his frozen hot dog down. “Actually, while we’re making announcements, I think that I might have one. I’ve decided to go into carpentry. My parents aren’t exactly thrilled, but I’m sure.”

  “That’s no surprise,” Emmeline said. “Aren’t you renowned for being good with your hands?”

  “You better believe it, baby!” His eyebrows danced, insinuating something completely off topic.

  “Are your parents still thinking about selling the antique shop?” asked Ginny.

  “Yes, they threaten to every day. They want to retire and move somewhere warm. I think I might have them convinced to wait until I’m done with school, and they can sell it to me. Then I’d have a place to run my own business out of.”

  “Would you keep the antiques?” Nicholas asked.

  “Why not? I’ve been working there my whole life. It would be weird not to have them there. I could refinish a lot of old furniture that way too. So, that’s me and Emmeline. We all know Ginny is going to be a lawyer. What about you, Nicky? What do you want to do when you graduate?”

  “I don’t want to say. I think you might laugh.”

  “Just tell them,” Emmeline encouraged him. “I think it’s great.”

  “I think I might like to go into politics.” Nicholas sounded a little sheepish.

  “I’d vote for you,” said Callum, giving a thumbs-up. “Besides, you practically have this entire town wrapped around your little finger.”

  “Ha!”

  “Let’s face it, between your dad owning half of the town and your mom serving on every committee out there, if you ran for mayor today everyone would vote you in without a second thought.”

  “Wouldn’t that be nice? But I don’t think I’ll be running for a while yet. I’ve just started looking at universities.”

  Millie started to squawk, so Emmeline reached down and picked her up. As she did, Millie grabbed a mittful of snow from the side of the blanket and went to put it in her mouth.

  “No, sweetie. You’re supposed to throw the snow, not eat it. Watch.” Emmeline took the few snowflakes out of her hand and threw them at Nicholas.

  “So you want to start that, do you?” He picked up a handful of snow and threw it at Emmeline just as Callum threw another handful right in her face. She screamed.

  “That’s it! You better watch out! It’s on!” Emmeline put Millie back down and grabbed two handfuls of snow, throwing them back at Callum.

  The next few minutes were all out war, Emmeline receiving the brunt of it. She had started it, after all. Afterwards, they drank mugs of cold hot chocolate while telling Millie stories of the stupid things they did when they were younger. With their future looming so close ahead of them, it felt good to look back.

  Chapter 15

  Nicholas

  It seemed like minutes since their engagement party in the snow, and yet almost six weeks had slipped through his fingers. These days practically every minute of his day was accounted for. That might be the reason why his head hurt. He had taken three Tylenol already, and yet it was only getting worse.

  I must be tired, he thought. This is stupid. It’s not like I haven’t done double shifts before.

  He checked his watch. Only forty-five minutes left to go and then he could crawl into bed with Emmeline. It couldn’t happen fast enough. He loved sleeping next to her, hearing her breathe softly. Hopefully Millie would be sleeping. She had been sleeping longer and longer at night. It was definitely something to be grateful for.

  He had got up early that morning to do a shift at the ticket wicket from four to eight, then went and put in a full day at school, and now he was back at work, trying to keep from falling asleep. This wasn’t unusual; he had done it a hundred times before. It was just today, today he was tired. Keeping up with everything was hard: school, work, baby snuggles, a stolen moment here and there with Emmeline.

  He never imagined it wou
ld be easy, it just didn’t occur to him that it would be this hard. Sometimes doing it all was too overwhelming, but when he looked into that squirmy little girl’s eyes, it was all worth it. Millie was magic that way. She was strong-willed, determined, and it always surprised him at how quickly she picked things up.

  He was grateful to his friends, especially Callum and Ginny. They had been an incredible source of support, making sure he never fell behind in school, taking notes for him if he was away, and doing the lion’s share of work in group projects.

  Why can’t I get rid of this headache?

  He promised everyone he wouldn’t leave school. He knew he wouldn’t have any future if he didn’t finish high school. Then he needed to somehow get to college. He just wasn’t sure how he was going to make that happen. His parents were still paying for him to finish high school. Maybe they would help out with college too. They could just as easily have decided to let him finish out his high schooling at the public school. But that being said, he would still rather do it on his own than listen to them talk about Emmeline and Millie.

  After Emmeline had tried to fix things, he called again, and actually spoke to his mother, but she spent the entire conversation pressuring him to give up custody of Millie so that he and Emmeline could focus on their studies. He hadn’t even bothered telling his parents about the engagement. However, he found it hard to believe that no one would have mentioned it to them through the small-town grapevine.

  If they weren’t going to let the custody issue go, then there was nothing he could do to fix their relationship. Millie and Emmeline were his family now. He and Emmeline might have made a mistake by getting pregnant, but he loved that baby. She brought meaning to his life like nothing else had ever done. The way she smiled when he picked her up was something incredible. She was Daddy’s girl, Emmeline even said so. She looked like him. His sandy brown hair, instead of Emmeline’s dark. She had a wide, open face, just like him too. And his dimples. Maybe that was it, when she smiled. Her dimples. The hours were worth it for those dimples.