Chapter 34
Thirty-Four
HOLLY
First Christmas Together
I woke up on Christmas Eve morning in the arms of the man I loved, in a cozy inn room with snow falling gently outside the windows, feeling like I was living inside the kind of romantic Christmas movie I’d always secretly believed was too good to be true.
Declan was still asleep beside me, his dark hair mussed, and his face relaxed in a way that made him look younger and completely peaceful.
In the soft morning light filtering through the frost-covered windows, he looked like someone who’d finally stopped running from something and had found exactly where he belonged.
Which, I supposed, was exactly what had happened to both of us.
“Good morning,” he murmured without opening his eyes, his arm tightening around me. “Merry Christmas Eve.”
“Merry Christmas Eve,” I said, pressing a kiss to his chest. “How did you know I was awake?”
“Your breathing changed,” Declan said, finally opening his eyes to look at me with the kind of fond smile that made my heart flutter like a caffeinated butterfly. “Plus, you were doing that thing where you trace patterns on my skin when you’re thinking.”
“What thing?” I asked, though I was currently doing exactly what he’d described.
“That thing,” he said, catching my hand and pressing it flat against his chest. “What were you thinking about?”
“This,” I said simply. “Us. How different everything feels this morning compared to yesterday morning.”
“Different how?”
“Yesterday morning I was Holly Winters, temporarily coordinating a Christmas festival while trying to figure out what to do with my life,” I said, settling more comfortably against his side.
“This morning, I’m Holly Winters, permanently staying in Everdale Falls to build a life with the man I love. ”
“That is different,” Declan agreed. “This morning I’m Declan Hayes, unemployed former successfully lawyer who’s completely happy about destroying his career for love.”
“Unemployed former successful lawyer who’s about to become Everdale Falls’ newest legal advocate,” I corrected. “There’s a difference.”
“A significant difference,” Declan said, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “Especially since one of those career paths involves working with you for the rest of my life, and the other involved never seeing you except on vacations.”
The rest of my life. The phrase should have been terrifying—we’d been officially together for less than forty-eight hours—but instead it felt exactly right, like we were finally acknowledging something that had been true since the moment we’d laid eyes on each other in high school.
“Speaking of the rest of our lives,” I said, suddenly remembering something important, “we should probably get back to town soon. Christmas Eve service is at eleven, and my mother will have a complete emotional breakdown if we’re late to family traditions.”
“Family traditions,” Declan repeated with obvious interest. “What exactly does Christmas Eve look like in the Winters household?”
“Chaos,” I said cheerfully. “Beautiful, loving chaos. Mom makes her famous Christmas Eve breakfast casserole, Dad reads the Christmas story out loud even though we’re all adults, Matt pretends he’s too cool for family sentiment while secretly taking pictures of everything, and we exchange one special gift each. ”
“One special gift?”
“Family tradition,” I explained. “Christmas morning is for the big celebration with lots of presents, but Christmas Eve is for one meaningful gift that represents what you want to say to that person but can’t find the words for.”
Declan was quiet for a moment, and when I looked up at him, he had the kind of expression that suggested he was processing the significance of being included in intimate family traditions.
“Holly,” he said carefully, “are you sure your family wants me there for Christmas Eve traditions? I mean, I know they like me, but that sounds like something for actual family members.”
“Declan,” I said, propping myself up on my elbow to look at him directly, “you are actual family now. Maybe not legally yet, but in every way that matters. My parents have been calling you their future son-in-law since approximately five minutes after we told them we were staying in Vermont together.”
“Future son-in-law,” Declan repeated with a smile.
“Very future,” I said quickly, realizing that might sound like pressure. “I mean, no timeline or expectations or anything. Just... if you want that. Eventually. Maybe.”
“Holly,” Declan said gently, reaching up to touch my face, “I want that. All of it. The future, the family, the eventually. I want it so much that it’s slightly terrifying.”
“Terrifying in a good way or terrifying in a ‘run away to Mexico’ way?”
“Terrifying in a ‘I’ve never wanted anything this much’ way,” Declan said, pulling me down for a kiss that tasted like promises and Christmas Eve morning and the kind of happiness I’d been afraid to hope for.
When we finally broke apart, I checked the clock.
If we didn’t get moving soon, we were going to be late for everything our families had planned, which would result in the kind of well-meaning parental interference that would probably include detailed discussions of our romantic timeline and possibly impromptu engagement planning.
“We should get ready,” I said reluctantly, though what I wanted to do was stay in this bed with Declan for approximately the next week and forget about schedules and family obligations and anything that didn’t involve the two of us figuring out our domestic future.
“Probably,” Declan agreed, though he made no move to actually get up. “But first, I have something for you.”
“Something for me?”
“Your one special Christmas Eve gift,” Declan said, reaching for his jacket, which was hanging over the chair beside the bed. “I know we didn’t exactly plan for this tradition, but I saw something yesterday and thought... well, I hoped you’d like it.”
He pulled a small, wrapped box from his jacket pocket, and my heart did something complicated and fluttery that he’d been thinking about Christmas gifts for me while dealing with Richard’s dramatic career intervention and our life-altering romantic revelations.
“Declan,” I said softly, accepting the box with obvious emotion, “you didn’t have to—”
“I wanted to,” he said simply. “Open it.”
Inside the box was a delicate silver necklace with a small pendant that looked like.
.. a Christmas tree. But when I looked closer, I saw it wasn’t just any Christmas tree.
It was specifically designed to look like the tree in Everdale Falls town square, complete with tiny details that matched the actual decorations we’d helped coordinate.
“Declan,” I whispered, touched beyond words by the thoughtfulness of the gift.
“I saw it in the jewelry booth yesterday,” he explained, looking slightly nervous about my reaction. “Mrs. Caldwell makes them custom for people who want to remember special Christmas festivals. I thought... I thought maybe this Christmas festival was special enough to remember.”
“It’s perfect,” I said, meaning it completely. “It’s absolutely perfect.”
As Declan fastened the necklace around my neck, I knew he was right. This Christmas festival was definitely special enough to remember—it was the Christmas festival where I’d fallen in love and chosen my future and discovered what it felt like to be exactly where I belonged.
“Now I have something for you,” I said, reaching for my handbag.
“Holly, you don’t have to—”
“Yes, I do,” I said firmly, pulling out a small package. “Open it.”
Declan unwrapped the gift with the kind of careful attention that suggested he was trying to preserve the wrapping paper, which was exactly the kind of detail that made me love him even more. Inside was a small brass nameplate that read “Declan Hayes, Attorney at Law” in elegant engraving.
“For your new office,” I explained, suddenly nervous that it was too presumptuous or too practical or not romantic enough for a Christmas Eve gift. “I know you don’t have an office yet, but I thought... when you do...”
“It’s perfect,” Declan said quietly, running his thumb over the engraved letters. “Holly, this is perfect. It makes it real, you know? The idea that I’m actually going to do this, build a practice here, help people who need it. How did you get this so quickly?”
I tapped the side of my nose. “I have my ways. You’re going to be amazing at it. Small-town legal practice is lucky to have you.”
“Small-town legal practice is lucky that you’re staying to help coordinate my professional life along with everything else,” Declan said with obvious affection. “Speaking of which, have I mentioned that I love you?”
“Only about twelve times since yesterday,” I said. “But don’t let that stop you.”
“I love you,” Declan said solemnly, like he was making a formal declaration. “Completely, permanently, with all the terrifying intensity of someone who’s finally found what he’s been looking for his entire life.”
“I love you too,” I said, kissing him softly. “Now come on, or we’re going to be late for Christmas Eve service, and my mother will blame you forever.”
“Can’t have that,” Declan smirked. “Future sons-in-law should probably make good impressions during their first family Christmas.”
Two hours later, we were sitting in the third pew of Everdale Falls Community Church, surrounded by both sets of parents and what appeared to be approximately three-quarters of the town’s population, listening to Pastor Williams deliver a Christmas Eve sermon about the importance of coming home.
“Home,” Pastor Williams was saying in his gentle, thoughtful way, “isn’t always the place where we were born. Sometimes home is the place where we choose to build our lives, the community that embraces us, the people who see us as we truly are and love us anyway.”