Chapter 34
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CALLIE
It’s Christmas Day, and I can hardly stand in one place for long. I am so excited for Gavin to come downstairs and find the gift I made for him. It took a few hours, both Granny and Mom’s help, and waiting until the house was quiet, which wasn’t easy, but I got there in the end.
I hope he loves it and that I didn’t just do something that’s totally going to trigger unhappy memories. Especially since his parents have taken off and we don’t know where they are. But I can’t think about that now. It’s done. It was meant with love. Hopefully he’ll understand that.
Oh my gosh, I can’t breathe.
Dad leans over the hearth, building up the fire.
It’s still dark beyond the windows, and we haven’t turned many lights on, so it’s dim in the living room.
The stockings are hanging on the mantel, sharing holders because we have too many people and not enough hooks.
Wrapped gifts line the underbelly of the tree and spread toward the sofa.
It’s not overabundance, but again, we have a fair number of people here.
Mom and Dad gave all of us matching pajamas last night, including Gavin.
How they found a red and black buffalo plaid onesie in his monstrous size is a complete mystery to me, but knowing he felt included was the cherry on top of the best Christmas Eve I’ve ever had.
Without even knowing this man suffered from family drama, Mom swept in with her inclusive ways and probably healed a part of him she didn’t know needed healing.
And she’ll never even know.
Mom brings the Echo Dot into the living room and plugs it in. “What do you think? Bing Crosby or Classic Christmas?”
“Bing has my vote,” Dad says, his deep voice slow and steady.
“Bing it is.”
Footsteps on the staircase make me sit up, but I deflate again when Ruby appears with Poppy. “Good morning, everyone. Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas, Ruby.”
She sits beside me on the couch and puts Poppy on the floor, who grabs hold of her knees and starts to cry. “Oh, enough of that, now. Father Christmas has come. You’ve nothing to be sad about.”
“Is Violet asleep?” I ask.
“Her and Hamish both. All that caroling wore them out.”
“Oliver too,” Mom says.
I pull my knees up and rest my chin on my flannel buffalo plaid.
“You know, when we planned this whole thing, and when Luna said she wanted to set you up with Gavin, I thought she was mad,” Ruby says. “Why find your sister a man who lives a nine-hour drive away?”
Hold on. Did I just hear her right?
“It’s better than a nine-hour flight,” Mom says.
Well, that’s suspicious. She doesn’t even seem bothered…or surprised. Come to think of it, they’re chatting like this set up is common knowledge. “You both knew about this?”
Ruby picks up Poppy and settles her on her lap. “About Gavin? Of course. Luna’s been hatching this plan since Easter.”
“Mom?”
She shrugs.
“Dad?!”
He leans back from the hearth and sighs, his hands resting on his thighs. “Maeve.”
“Okay, fine, so Luna and I spoke about it. But to give your sister credit, she didn’t want to introduce you and Gavin to each other if taking you away from California was going to break my heart.”
I stare at both women. “Did anyone think to ask me?”
They blink. “I thought you and Gavin hit it off, babe.”
“Yeah. We did. Which is the problem, Mom. Now I’m falling for this guy who lives on the other side of the world from me, and I’m stuck at UCLA. What easy solution is there here?”
“Honey,” she says, drawing out the word while her head tips to the side.
“No one expects you to drop your life and move to Scotland. And no one expects him to move to LA. You’ve only known each other for a few weeks.
Go home, keep talking to him. If something develops, you and Gavin will decide together what you want to do. ”
“Luna had a feeling you two would hit it off. She set you up because of you and Gavin, not because of where he lives.” Ruby lays Poppy back on her knees and tickles her tummy, changing her tone to baby talk as she speaks. “We have another week, Callie. Just enjoy it.”
Gavin steps out of the stairwell and burns a fiery path into my eyes. My breath catches. How long was he standing there, and how much did he overhear from my crazy meddling family?
Not that any of that matters at present.
The man is wearing a kilt, ladies. He has long white socks and a blue green plaid that hits his knees.
His tan knit sweater is wool and his hair looks neatly styled.
Despite my family playing with our lives like we’re Barbie dolls, he doesn’t look upset.
He looks like he’s waiting for my reaction.
And I’m waiting for him to notice his gift.
“Well, one of you needs to say something,” Ruby says.
“Happy Christmas, Callie.” Gavin glances at the others. “And everyone else.”
I hand Ruby my phone, so overwhelmed with emotions I can’t identify which one is chief of them all. “Will you take our picture? This is the last thing on my bucket list.”
He says nothing about the stones, but I’ve given up on those anyway. I don’t need a hot Highlander from the seventeen hundreds. I have a hot Highlander right here.
“Oh, Gavin, did you do that for her?” Mom asks. “How sweet.”
I stand in front of the Christmas tree while Dad takes a seat on the couch beside Mom.
Gavin approaches me with a predatorial look in his eyes, and I swear I’ve never wished my parents were elsewhere so hard in my life. I put out my arm for him but he stops, his gaze snagging on the mantel. I follow it to his stocking and hold my breath.
The late night and uber early morning have culminated in this moment.
“You did this for me, didn’t you?” he says softly.
“No one should have to wake up without a stocking, Gavin.”
He runs his fingers over the poorly executed embroidery of his name. I did my best. “This is the most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me.”
“Nessa sewed the actual stocking, to be fair.” I shrug. “I just did the name.”
He shakes his head, and when he looks at me, I feel it to my toes. “This was you. All you.”
“Merry Christmas,” I whisper, not trusting myself to speak any louder.
Gavin pulls me in for a hug and buries his head in my hair. We stand like this for a minute before I pull back and look at the couch to see everyone has disappeared.
“My family left.”
“I heard what they did,” he says.
“Manipulative.”
“I’m not angry.”
“I guess I’m not either.”
“Good.” He leans down to kiss me tenderly on the lips, his fingers grazing my jaw. “Now would you like to open your Christmas present?”
“Yes, I would. But let’s tell them it’s safe to come back now.”
Gavin laughs, kissing me again before releasing me to look in the kitchen for Ruby and my parents.
A warm glow permeates my body, and I’m not sure how I became so fortunate, but I feel grateful for the direction this vacation has turned.
And, okay, maybe I’m glad my sister was a little mischievous.
She knows me better than almost anyone in the world.
I should have known she would spot the perfect man for me.
When he returns with Mom, Dad, Ruby, and Poppy, he goes straight for the stairs and pulls something from the shadows.
When he holds it up, I squeal. “You finished the book?”
“Only the first draft. You’ll need to give me your notes.”
Gavin sits beside me on the sofa and hands over a sketchbook.
I open it to the first page and see that he’s started over, redrawing the bird on the trees and coloring them in.
The images are vibrant and adorable, cutesy in a way that’s perfect for a child’s picture book.
They’re going to do well once they hit shelves next Christmas.
This book will undoubtedly be a success.
The little bird notices the kids pulling the sled up the hill and hops along the branches to follow them, curious about what they’re doing. He reaches the top of the hill where he nears the children, deciding whether he wants to ask to join them.
But then another bird flies along and lands on the branch above him, dumping a pile of snow on his head. They meet and watch the children sled together, then decide they want to try.
The final scene is the birds on their own makeshift sled made out of an adorable curved leaf, sliding down the hill at breakneck speed.
I can’t tell why, but when I reach the end of the book, my eyes are filled with tears. “Am I the other bird?”
“Aye, you are lass. I think this makes for a finer ending, don’t you?”
“It really does.” I lean into him. “It’s perfect just the way it is.”
Rhys made a roast turkey for dinner with rolls and green beans, and Mom made a number of other sides. I worried we wouldn’t have enough food after Mom invited Rhona, Douglas, Patty, Katie, Jack, and Rory and his parents, but we all ate plenty and had leftovers.
Katie and Rhona brought pies, and everyone else brought sides and a ham, so the food multiplied.
I pinch a corner of Gavin’s pie crust when he sits at the table and pop it in my mouth. “Heaven.”
“You can have your own,” he says.
“I can’t eat anything else.”
His eyebrows hike up. “Except maybe a Curly Wurly bar?”
“You don’t need to attack me.” I pinch another piece of crust and lie through my teeth. “There’s always room for chocolate and caramel.”
“I don’t believe you.” His phone buzzes on the table, and he picks it up. “Hm.”
“Everything okay?”
“It’s my dad. He’s in Grasmere.” Gavin turns the phone to show me a poorly taken photo out of a campervan window. The scene looks as though it’s probably beautiful. But it’s a little blurry, so it’s kind of hard to tell.
“Where’s Grasmere?”
“Lake District,” he says around a bite of pie.
“Close to Mr. Darcy?”
“No, actually.” He glances at me with amusement. “A couple hours north of there. Are we going to forever speak geography in terms of relation to Pemberley?”
“Possibly. It’s something I understand.”
“Then I’ll grow used to it.”
“It was nice of him to message you.”
Gavin nods, looking at the photo again. “He’s trying. It means a lot to me.”
Rory takes the seat across from us and Katie sits beside him. “You two are adorable,” he says.
“I predicted this.” Katie takes a bite of pie. “Didn’t I?”
“She did,” Jack says from down the table. “I had to hear it so many times.”
Katie nods with satisfaction. “I like it. You should stick around, Callie.”
“Douglas likes it too,” Rory says, chuckling. “Did you all get a sight of Callie’s socks?”
My cheeks warm with pleasure, and I rotate my ankles on impulse. Douglas handed them to me himself when he arrived, and I think it means I’ve been officially accepted. “I will never remove these.”
“I thought Americans had a habit of good hygiene?” Katie muses.
I ignore her. “Unfortunately, I have to head home for school.” Also, I’m not insane enough to move across the world two weeks after meeting someone, even if I want to.
“But, after school, are you going to come back?” she asks.
I glance at Gavin. Something about the steady way he looks at me now, the firm line of electricity buzzing between us, tells me this relationship isn’t ending when I return to school next week. No one knows what the future holds, but I know it isn’t over yet.
Gavin probably can sense this too.
I look at Katie and shrug. “How else will Patty teach me to make shortbread?”