Chapter 31
DERRICK
“Welcome to Alnwick Castle,” Olivia says, greeting us in front of the imposing castle.
“Princess, so good to see you.” I give Olivia a hug, but then I see a sad, little petal behind her.
“Cammie, my Cammie, I’m going to kill that man.
I am going to pull his balls off and shove them so far down his throat that he’s going to choke on them.
” She tries to put on a brave face for me, but I can tell the damage that asshole has done to her.
“Come on inside, Sebastien and Yvette have just arrived,” Olivia advises. We follow, and she gives us a history of the place. I could never imagine what it must be like to walk around in a home your ancestors did hundreds of years ago.
“You look after this all by yourself? No one else helps you? Don’t you have a sister?” Axel asks her once she’s finished her tour.
“It’s my duty to help look after this estate as it has been in my family for four hundred years.
I don’t want to be the one who destroys its legacy.
It keeps me very busy. My sister chooses to pursue other opportunities,” Olivia answers diplomatically, and I can see in this environment she’s changed.
“Where are all the hot men?” I ask, breaking whatever tension is going on between Olivia and Axel, who are both acting weird.
“Maybe some are in the village, but there are generally none around here,” Olivia states.
“My poor little princess, now I understand why you needed to let loose in Monaco. You’re locked up in the tower waiting for Prince Charming to come and save you, but there are none around for miles,” I tease.
“D, now isn’t the time,” Sienna whispers to me, reminding me we are not alone as I remember all the parentals are here too. Oops.
“Shit, sorry, princess.”
Olivia accepts my apology. “Sebastien is currently in the kitchen testing it out, and Yvette is setting up all the dresses in the parlor room. You all must be exhausted from your long journey. Camryn has your room keys and will escort you from here. I just have some business to attend to and will join you again for dinner tonight.” She excuses herself from the group.
“To the happy couple, here is your key. You have the main bedroom, which is on the top floor, and it’s all ready for you.” Camryn hands over the antique key to Christian, who grabs Vanessa and swings her into his arms.
“Christian,” she squeals.
“No way, wife, I’m whisking you away to your turret, my princess,” he teases.
“Oh, role play, kinky Christian,” I call out after them.
Camryn hands out the rest of the keys, and we head off to our rooms to settle in.
I follow my map and walk up the spiral staircase to my room.
Opening the wooden door, I step in, and I feel like I’ve been transported back to the Tudors or something.
I have a gorgeous wooden carved four-poster bed, and a roaring fireplace is crackling away.
Glass windows overlook the gardens where snow is starting to fall.
I can see the white fluff through the window.
There is an ensuite and a wardrobe. There are old paintings on the wall, and I wonder who they are and what their stories are.
I sit on the bed and stare at the room. If these walls could talk, I wonder what they would say.
‘Who’s the hot guy sitting on our bed?’ Naturally.
Is this place haunted? A sudden chill slides down my spine.
“If there is a ghost in this room, please note I’m strictly dickly. I only give my consent to a male ghost touching me during the night. If you could pass that on to the other ghosts, please, I don’t want to disappoint anyone.”
We’ve just had the most magical Christmas, my heart was full waking up and coming down the stone stairs in my tartan pajamas, hello Christmas chic, to a Christmas tree overflowing with presents.
Thankfully, most of us are going back home on the Dirty Texas jet and don’t have to worry about excess baggage because everyone’s present buying is slightly out of control, especially those grandparents.
Last year, with everyone together back home, celebrating Christmas was amazing, and I love how much our squad has grown and continues to grow each year.
It’s been a year of highs and lows, but I wouldn’t change anything that’s happened this year because I honestly believe I’m stronger for it.
I even bought something small for Chance as a peace offering.
Yes, I know he doesn’t deserve it, but it’s fricken Christmas and I ain’t no grinch. Except that fucker got to me first.
“Merry Christmas, D,” he says nervously as he hands me a gorgeously wrapped present.
“Oh, thanks, you didn’t have to,” I tell him.
“But I did.” He shrugs, shoving his hands into his pajama pockets as he nervously rocks back and forth.
“I got something for you too,” I say, feeling bad as I only got him something small compared to the size of his present.
“You did?” he says, hopefully. I hand him his present. He quickly unwraps it and stares at the gift. It’s a silver bracelet with the inscription ‘Courage’ written on the inside. Thought it might help him. Tears well in his eyes, he is genuinely touched by the gift.
“You like it?”
“I love it, D, thank you,” he says, holding it close to his chest. “Now open yours,” he urges.
Okay, I open it and gasp as I pull out the Tiffany Blue box. “Chance!” I pull out a Tiffany & Co champagne bucket. This thing is nearly eight grand. “It’s too much.”
He shakes his head. “You’ve had so many things to celebrate, now and in the future, thought you would use it for all those bottles of champagne you’ll be popping. I’m so proud of everything you’ve achieved since …” He lets the words hang. “This way I could feel a part of your life still.”
Now I’m crying. “Come here,” I tell him as I give him a hug. “You will always be in my life as a friend.”
Those green eyes widen. “You mean that?”
“I do. Our friendship will take time to get back to what it once was.”
“That is the best Christmas present you could ever have given me, D, a chance to be your friend again.” I reach out and squeeze his hand. He sounds so low, and it’s Christmas.
“Come on, let’s grab some eggnog, I know where the whiskey is to spike it.”
We come back in with our spiked eggnog and take a seat back down on the couch. We watch Ryder zoom around in the remote-control Ferrari I bought him. It’s so cool. Sienna wanted to kill me, but at least Evan appreciated it.
“You have one more present,” Vanessa tells Christian, handing him a white box.
He starts to open it, pulling out piles of tissue paper until he hits a red box, he then keeps going, opening box after box.
I think Vanessa is pranking her husband until he gets to a pink box, and then more pink tissue paper falls out, next thing I know, Christian is crying.
He pulls out a pair of baby onesies that say ‘Girls Rock’ across them.
No. Does that mean? Oh my god!
“We’re having girls?” he questions Vanessa, and she nods.
I knew it. The pink. Also, karma is a woman, and she has a funny sense of humor, giving that womanizing rock star two little girls.
“But how?” he asks genuinely shocked.
“Christian, if you have to ask how, you’re doing it wrong,” I tease, making everyone laugh.
“I wanted to give you this for Christmas, so I went back to the doctor’s office, they double-checked via ultrasound to see whether they could decipher via that, but they couldn’t, so I asked them to go ahead with a blood test to find out,” Vanessa explains.
“We’re having two little girls.”
“Yep, two little girls.” Vanessa smirks.
“Shit, we’re in so much trouble.” He grins as he pulls Vanessa into a heated kiss, making us all scream excitedly.
They are having girls.
“Two little Taylor princesses,” Christian yells out to everyone.
Best Christmas ever. My mind is already racing with ideas for the nursery and the clothes I’ve been looking at for the shop. They are going to be so happy that Uncle Derrick and Aunty Sienna own a boutique because two little girls will be expensive.
“I actually have one more present for you,” Christian tells Vanessa.
What on earth could he be surprising her with?
Nothing could beat her present. “Open it,” he says excitedly.
Vanessa pulls out some keys. Are they keys to like some kind of sex dungeon?
“Wonder what they could be for?” he asks her.
But Vanessa looks confused. “Remember how much you loved Big Bear Lake? Well, while you were away in Paris, the boys and I took a little trip up there to look around … and I thought it might be a great place to bring up our kids. I bought you a house.”
“It’s beautiful, Ness. My brother did well,” Axel tells her.
Vanessa bursts into tears and hugs him. “You bought me a house for us and our little girls?”
“I didn’t know we were having two kids when I bought it, but I wanted us to have somewhere we could escape the city. Now we can show them what it’s like to ride horses, milk a cow, ride quad bikes, all that cool stuff they can’t do in the city.”
“I love it, Chris, I love it so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she says as she smothers him in kisses.
“Last year, Evan bought Sienna the house her baby shower was in, the one on the beach,” I whisper to Chance.
“Is this now a Christmas tradition?” he asks.
“Depends on who falls next, but I think the bar has been set.” I chuckle, feeling the effects of the eggnog.
“Did you want to go for a quick walk?” Chance asks.
“Yes, let’s go and make snow angels,” I tell him.
“It’s snowing.” Chance grimaces.
“I know, that’s kind of the point,” I say, grabbing his hand and dragging him out into the snow.
It’s freezing, but it doesn’t bother me thanks to the eggnog.
I launch myself into the snow and start making an angel, as does Chance.
We are laughing and giggling away. This is what Christmas and found family are all about.
I stare up into the dark morning sky, watching the white fluffs of snow flutter down.
“Thanks for this, I needed it,” Chance says as I hold out my hand for him.
“I did too,” I agree, shaking off the snow.
“I really am sorry I broke us, D,” he says.
“I am too, but I think it wasn’t the right time for either of us.” A shiver runs down my spine as the cold starts to seep through my clothes. “I think we are better off being friends.”
He nods. “Friends I can do.”