Chapter 51
HARRISON
Christmas
My parents’ drive glittered under a thin layer of frost as we pulled up to the big house, headlights cutting through the early evening mist. It was Christmas Eve, one year to the day since we’d gotten married, and we were back in San Francisco for the holidays.
Aurelia laughed softly as she leaned forward, staring up at the house through the windshield before giving my hand in hers a squeeze. “Gosh, CC went all out again. The place looks like a postcard.”
She wasn’t wrong. Golden light poured through every window, smoke curled from the chimneys, and garland was wrapped around the massive columns on the porch. I glanced at my wife, my heart still tripping over itself whenever I remembered that was what she was—my wife. Mine.
“I think she’s making up for not having had a Christmas Eve dinner last year,” I joked. “Christmas has always been her jam. All of it.”
“Harrison,” she practically squeaked, blue eyes wide as they locked on mine. “Last year, you said it was only Christmas Day that was that important to her. You told me she wouldn’t mind us inviting everyone over for Christmas Eve.”
“She didn’t mind, did she?” I pumped my eyebrows at her. “She got to be at our wedding instead and now we’re spending our anniversary with them. I’d say that’s an unfair trade. We should be in Aspen or something.”
Aurelia leaned over from the passenger seat to press a kiss to my cheek. “We spent all day at a spa, had the most absurdly amazing lunch, and got to spend the afternoon in bed together. We definitely had our anniversary.”
I smiled, squeezing her fingers. “Well, it’s the only one we’re ever going to have alone. Are you sure we shouldn’t have just stayed in the city and holed up?”
“You mean miss watching your brothers trying to out-toast each other? Never.” She grinned, that spark in her eyes that always made me forget what I was saying. “Let’s go, Westwood. We haven’t seen them for a couple months. Either we go inside or they’re going to move the party to your car.”
I groaned but parked between Sterling’s SUV and Callum’s truck. As we climbed out, the crisp air bit at our cheeks and I looked up, watching dark clouds roll in front of the moon and wondering why it felt so strangely still out here.
That was where the stillness ended, though.
Inside, the house was alive in a way I’d never experienced it.
Babies screeching with either hunger or laughter—it was hard to tell.
A dog barking in the living room and Brody’s footsteps smacking down the hallway as he ran.
Someone yelled about spilled cider and I heard my mother laughing instead of cussing in response.
“Welcome to the madhouse,” I murmured, helping Aurelia out of her coat. “We haven’t even seen them yet and I already need a drink.”
She laughed softly. “Don’t be so quick to dismiss it. It feels like home, don’t you think?”
Weirdly, it kind of did.
A year ago, I hadn’t even been sure she was going to show up, and even once she had, we’d had to think about strategy and making a deal with my brother and my father, wondering what they might think. Tonight, all I could think about was how lucky I was to have her hand in mine.
We’d spent the year building something of our own—a sleek little acquisitions firm in New York, backed by Sterling, quietly profitable and growing faster than either of us had expected.
We were still tied to Westwood & Sons, technically a branch, but we were running it on our own terms. For the first time, I hadn’t been feeling feel like the baby brother tagging along in someone else’s shadow.
Aurelia had been right beside me every step of the way, turning boardrooms into battlefields and winning contracts with that sharp smile of hers. Her parents hadn’t believed she could handle the workload in the long run, but now, they sent their friends to pitch her.
I’d spent half the year watching her prove everyone wrong. It had been fucking fantastic. So had the month we’d spent on the yacht in the summer, finally getting to have a proper honeymoon.
The doors to the great room swung open as we approached. The noise doubled. Sterling was at the bar, stirring something in a crystal glass while Laney wrangled Claire. Jameson was trying to keep his twin daughters from dismantling the dessert table while they crawled and shuffled around.
Callum had Sam in a sling across his chest, grinning like the cat who had caught the canary while Brody played with Hooch. Dad sat in a high-backed chair near the fire, a glass of wine in his hand, telling the same story about his first acquisition that he told every Christmas.
Only this time, he didn’t sound like the hard-edged mogul I’d grown up with. He was happy. Relaxed, even. Retirement had taken the iron out of his voice and replaced it with warmth.
Across the room, CC sat on the couch, her lap full of grandkids when they were passed to her for a cuddle, Claire, Hailey, Briar, and Sam, Brody hugging her from behind when he realized Sadie was taking a picture.
Mom cooed at them like they were the greatest achievement in Westwood history. Knowing her, she probably really felt like they were. She looked radiant, her laugh carrying above the din.
“Look who finally made it,” Callum called out when he turned and spotted us. “The big city hotshots.”
Aurelia rolled her eyes. “Please. You’re only jealous we get to sleep through the night.”
“Sleep’s overrated,” he said. “The baby life, kids. That’s where it’s at.”
“I’d be careful saying that in front of your eight-year-old,” I joked as I crossed to the bar to shake Sterling’s hand.
He gave me one of his rare, genuine smiles. “I saw the firm’s numbers for this quarter. Impressive.”
“Thanks,” I said. “We’re still a long way from what you guys are doing out here, but we’re holding our own.”
“You’re doing more than that,” he said. “You’re building something pretty much from scratch and you’re doing it well. That’s much harder.”
I caught Aurelia’s gaze from across the room where she was laughing with Sadie, her golden hair tumbling loose over her shoulder. My heart skipped as it hit me all over again. She and I were building a life together. Not just the firm. Not just the name. The life.
“Alright, we’re all here,” Dad said, rising from his chair in front of the fire. “Time for toasts. Gather round, gather round.”
Aurelia slipped her hand into mine again. We bunched up around him, the room glowing with the warmth of firelight. Dad raised his bourbon and looked at each of us in turn, a soft, almost emotional smile on his face.
“How we’ve grown,” he murmured, blinking himself out of what had, for one terrifying moment, looked like the beginning of tears.
“I just want to say how proud I am of every last one of you. These last couple years have been a time of change and transition, a time of growth, sometimes uncertainty, and for my boys to really become the men they were supposed to be. Thank you all for your hard work, keeping the family name high no matter what the endeavor, and thank you for being here with us tonight.”
“To new beginnings,” Sterling said, raising his glass.
“To family,” Jameson added, his arm extending into the air as he pulled a highly pregnant Sadie closer with his other arm. “Mostly to the fact that this particular family is growing at an extremely rapid pace.”
“To survival,” Callum joked, and everyone laughed. “Let’s be honest, that’s what you’re all thinking. I’m just the one who said it.”
As they all drank, I glanced down at Aurelia and quietly added my own toast, meant only for her ears. “To us and doing it all. Together.”
She tilted her face toward me, her smile soft. “Always.”
After everyone had swallowed their sips, the living room once again became a blur of motion and noise, but this time, the chaos seemed more beautiful to me.
It was such a stark contrast to how it had been only two years ago, when Sterling had spent most of Christmas Eve on the phone, closing a deal on the other side of the world.
Jameson had spent most of the night with an entire bottle of whiskey on the coffee table next to him, slumped in front the fire and shooting the most depressing breeze ever with Callum.
Callum, who had reached for the bottle even more often than Jameson, the two of them hammering out lists of shit they needed to get done as soon as the office reopened.
Meanwhile, I’d spent the night with one foot out the door, just waiting for the opening to leave and join my friends at a party downtown. We’d jetted out to the Alps before first light the next morning, all of us eager to get away from our families and be hitting fresh powder instead.
It was crazy, how much things had changed since then. Aurelia glanced up at me again, her small hand snaking around my shoulder to give it a concerned squeeze. “Are you okay? It looked like you kind of zoned out there for a minute.”
“I did,” I admitted without skipping a beat. “My brothers will probably think I’m crazy for saying this, but Dad was right when he told them it was time. They’re all so much happier now.”
“What about you?”
My lips curved into a grin and I lowered my head a little closer to hers. “I’m the smartest of the bunch. He didn’t even need to tell me it was time. I just knew. Especially once I met you.”
“Alright, everyone,” Sterling called, interrupting whatever her response might’ve been when he clapped his hands together. “Family photo time before anyone spills anything on their shirts.”
The suggestion earned him a collective groan, but then Garvey appeared with the camera and a tripod, sighing like a man who knew this would take half an hour. Sterling was already trying to wrangle everyone, but Garvey was probably right. It was going to take a while to get us all into one frame.
“Hailey, no. We don’t eat the tinsel, baby,” Jameson said, rescuing a glittering strand from his daughter’s mouth.
Sadie tried to fix the bow in Briar’s hair. Callum was juggling the baby carrier and trying to grab Brody’s attention away from Hooch. Sterling was adjusting his tie even though nobody else was wearing one.
“Is everyone ready?” Garvey asked stiffly once we were all gathered. “On three. One, two. No, Miss Aurelia, you blinked.”
“I did not,” Aurelia protested, laughing as she shifted closer to me. “Or maybe I did. Who even knows?”
Garvey sighed. “Can we try to keep the little ones still? Not one of them is looking at the camera.”
The chaos continued. My brothers all tried to somehow coax their babies into looking at Garvey despite the fact that the man was just standing there, making no move to capture their attention. Aurelia’s hair brushed my jaw, soft and familiar.
“Should we tell them now?” she murmured, low enough that only I could hear her. “If Garvey takes the picture as we do, we’ll get to keep the memory forever.”
I looked at her, my wife, my partner, and the secret she was carrying, and smiled. “I kind of like having it to ourselves for a while.”
Her fingers brushed mine, the faintest smile tugging at her lips. “Me too.”
“Maybe tomorrow?” I asked. “At Christmas lunch when your parents are here too? I’d like to keep it to ourselves for a little longer than that, but if you’re—”
“Alright, last one,” Garvey called. “Everyone look at me. Smile!”
The flash went off, blinding half the room. A split second of stillness followed. Then the noise erupted again. Someone cheered, Brody and Hooch darted off, and the adults followed the scent of roast beef and spiced wine to the dining room.
Outside, beyond the fogged windows, soft flakes began to drift from the sky, impossibly rare for San Francisco. Aurelia caught sight of it first.
“Snow,” she whispered, her hand finding mine beneath the table. I looked at her, then out the window, watching the flakes catch in the glow of the lights strung up outside.
“I guess even the weather wanted a fresh start this year,” I murmured. “It’s kind of perfect.”
She smiled, and although I knew that next Christmas, there’d be one more little Westwood in the photo, for tonight, the secret was ours—and it really was perfect.