Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Luke
Myth: Christmas tree farmers loved Christmas and were the most festive guys out there.
Fact: Christmas tree farmers were usually tired, grumpy, and ready to not see another tree for a few months. Often our houses were the least decorated of anyone’s because we didn’t have time to do anything but sell Christmas trees to other people.
Every year I promised myself I’d take some time to slow down and appreciate the season more. Every year I failed to varying extents.
Having Addie helped. She wasn’t jaded or extra tired or overworked yet. Christmas was her favorite holiday. She still believed in magic and Santa, and I wanted to help her hold on to that for as long as possible and maybe soak up some of her wonder in the process.
This year, everything seemed different.
I should be more worn down than ever, what with the barn project and the late-night visits to Magnolia’s, preventing me from sleeping more than four or five hours a night, but I felt energized. Superpowered. And filled with more Christmas spirit than I could remember having for years.
A large part of that was due to the woman by my side. Magnolia had finished putting on a baby shower for a client just in time to join us.
Tonight was my dad group’s Christmas party, but instead of just us guys, this year it was us and our immediate families—twenty-four of us in all, soon to be twenty-six once Harper and Max’s and Quincy and Knox’s babies were born.
Ben and Emerson were hosting all of us in their recently expanded home.
They’d doubled the size of their living room, so some of us were at a folding table in there, with the rest of the adults at the dining-room table.
The kids had their own table in the kitchen.
It was a little crowded but cozy. Maybe next year I’d host in the barn.
Addie loved playing with Ben and Emerson’s four kids and West’s three daughters, so she was having the time of her life. I was savoring every moment with the prettiest woman in the room.
Since hooking up, Magnolia and I had been stealing whatever private moments we could, and I wouldn’t trade my alone time with her for anything.
But having her with me in public, going to a party as a couple—as a pseudofamily, really—had ideas lodging in my head and making me wonder if I’d found a woman worthy of becoming my real family.
We’d only been together a few weeks though, and I sometimes got the impression Magnolia wasn’t as ready to commit as I was.
I knew she was working through a lot, figuring out who she was, building a new business, dealing with parental baggage, and now pondering an entire nonprofit foundation with her mother, so I understood.
I could be patient.
We were sharing a table with Ben, Emerson, Chance, and Rowan.
We’d devoured a potluck meal, then taken a break for a white elephant gift exchange.
Now we were back to the food scene, digging into an array of desserts, including divinity, peppermint brownies, gingerbread bars, and llama-shaped sugar cookies from the bakery, when Ben blew into Ruby’s karaoke microphone.
“Testing,” he said, standing between the living and dining rooms so we could all see him. “Don’t be alarmed. I won’t be singing.”
“Even the livestock would take off running if you did,” West bellowed.
“Unless he shares the cookies with them,” Chance called out to a round of laughter.
The eight younger kids and Chance’s teenage daughter, Sam, came out of the kitchen and crawled onto laps or settled next to their parents. Addie snuggled against my side, her eyes full of life and excitement.
“Did everybody get what they wanted from the white elephant exchange?” Ben asked, grinning like a bandit. He’d managed to walk away with the toilet night-light, which was the coveted prize of the evening that had been stolen multiple times.
“I heard Emerson’s happy with her hot-dog pen,” Knox said. “She finally has a hot dog that’s a full six inches.”
“I love my heart-shaped waffle iron,” Scarlet, West’s oldest, announced.
“I love my Lego set,” Xavier called out.
“My yodeling pickle is up for grabs,” West said. “Harper, are you sure you won’t trade your chocolate penguins?”
“I’m sure!” Harper said.
“She’s already eaten half of them,” Max reported.
Harper laughed and said, “More than half.”
“If you’re smart, you know better than to take chocolate away from a pregnant woman,” Chance quipped.
The teasing continued for another couple of minutes, filling the house with laughter and love.
Eventually Ben tapped on the microphone to get us to shut up. Quieting this group was a chore, but it gradually worked.
“I just wanted to say a few words,” Ben said, “into my high-powered microphone.”
“It’s my microphone, Daddy,” Ruby informed him. “But I said you could borrow it.”
“Thank you for letting me borrow it, Ruby Tuesday,” Ben said.
“Anyway, it was close to two years ago, I think, when Max, Luke, Chance, and I decided single dadding wasn’t for the weak at heart and that we should start an informal group that met every week to talk dad stuff, or sometimes talk nondad stuff. ”
Low-voiced agreements arose from both tables.
“Along came Knox and West, rounding out our group of dudes stumbling through parenthood, with drinks and sports along the way.”
West raised his beer in acknowledgment.
“All I can say is,” Ben continued, “thank God for you guys. I don’t want to get too sappy, but I think I speak for all of us when I say we’ve been through some rough times that our group helped us get through.
Of course, half of those challenges revolved around falling for the beautiful women at our tables who we now call our families. ”
More laughter ensued, mostly because he was spot on. These guys had been hardheaded when it came to love. They’d each needed to be smacked upside the head. Meanwhile here I was the whole time, wanting to find a wife to share my life with, and I was the only single guy left.
I glanced at Magnolia and brushed my hand down her arm.
“This year, we’ve evolved, gentlemen,” Ben said.
“Look at us tonight. None of us are alone anymore. We’re all lucky enough to have found some damn fine women, and yes, Ruby, I’ll put money in the swear jar for that when I’m done.
Luke and Magnolia, I know you’re a new thing, and I’m not putting pressure on you for long-term, Magnolia.
We’re just happy you’re here with us tonight. ”
“Happy to be here,” she said, meeting my gaze with affection in her eyes.
“Does everyone have a beverage?” Ben asked. “Kids and pregnant ladies, grab your juice boxes. Anyone else need a refill? I’d like to make a toast.” He waited while Emerson poured herself more wine, then passed the bottle to Presley.
“Okay, we’re ready,” Emerson told her husband.
“A few years ago, it was just me and the kids, as you know, and we did okay. We bought this property so we could get horses and dogs, and we did. But then I kept on going, taking in animals like it was my job—”
“It sort of is your job,” Max called out, making Ben laugh.
“You all know I love animals,” Ben continued, “but I think part of that was me searching for the final piece of our family. It turns out that was not, in fact, yet another four-legged creature but a gorgeous single mom and her two kids.”
After a round of aahs, Ben raised his wineglass and said, “Here’s to the single dads we once were.
As hard as it was, it brought us together into this tribe that’s become an extended family.
Here’s to the women who’ve brightened our lives and made our families complete.
And here’s to you kids who’ve made us crazy at times, prouder than we ever thought was possible, more patient than we realized we had the capacity for, and who’ve filled us with learning opportunities and so much love.
To friendship and family. Thank you all for being here tonight and for being an important part of my family’s lives. ”
“Hear, hear,” rang out around the room as we clinked our glasses and cans and juice boxes.
Ben started to head back to the table, then lifted the mic again. “One more time, though, seriously, Magnolia. No pressure.”
I laughed along with everyone else, then leaned over and kissed her.
“Thanks for having this rowdy group over tonight,” Knox said.
Emerson stood and said, “Please stay for as long as you want, everyone. The party’s not over.”
“Well, not too long,” Ben joked.
The place became loud and chaotic again. Chance and Sam came around with bags for trash. Ben and Xavier took down the folding table to open up more space. Apparently some of the women were organizing a round of karaoke, and they needed room to move.
“Daddy, can we go look at the llamas now?” Addie asked me. She’d been excited about the animals since we’d arrived. I’d promised we’d check them out after dinner.
“Go get your shoes and coat on,” I told her. “I’ll be right there.”
Addie zipped off, and I turned to Magnolia. “Would you like to go to the barn with us?”
With her attention on Quincy and Presley, who were setting up the karaoke speaker, she said, “Trust me when I say nobody wants me singing. It would frighten the children. So as long as Esmerelda doesn’t assault me again, I’ll go with you.”
“If she does, I’ll rescue you,” I said, grinning as I remembered the night we first kissed. “Again.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
Ben came out to the barn with us, saying he wanted to check on a pregnant barn cat who was getting close.
“Are you sure those kittens aren’t going to wind up inside with the rest of the herd?” I joked, referencing the three dogs and five cats who were closed in on the second story of the house for the evening.
“If I want to stay married, they’re staying out here,” he said, laughing. He headed up the stairs to the hayloft, where he’d last seen the pregnant cat.
Addie ran ahead of us, stopping off at each of the three horse stalls and quickly greeting the horses. Then she skipped ahead to the llamas.
“Esmerelda!” Addie called like it was a celebrity sighting.
“I wouldn’t mind meeting Betty,” Magnolia said.
“You’re not scared of a little llama love, are you?” I asked.
“Esmerelda is a menace,” she said with conviction.
We said hello to Betty, the brown-and-white llama, then backtracked to Esmerelda, the pure white, long-haired llama who looked at us with so much judgment as we approached.
“Look at her,” Magnolia said. “I swear she has it in for me.”
“Esmerelda is a sweet girl,” Addie said, closing in on Esmerelda’s stall door.
“Come here, doodlebug,” I said. When my daughter came up to me, I lifted her so she could see over the wall.
She cooed at the judgmental llama, but Esmerelda barely gave her a second glance.
Instead the white barn queen strode in her slow llama way toward Magnolia, who stood three feet from me, toward one side of the stall.
“Hey, Esmerelda,” Addie sang. “You’re such a pretty girl.”
Esmerelda didn’t even blink at my daughter, who wanted her acknowledgment so badly.
“Go visit Addie,” Magnolia said to the llama, pointing. “She loves you.”
Ben came up to us then. “No kittens yet but the mama cat told me in no uncertain terms to back off. Hey, Es.”
The llama turned her big eyes on him for a moment, then looked back at Magnolia, who raised both hands.
“I’m not your person,” she said, laughing. “What is her deal? Why is she staring at me?”
“Addie, we’re playing tag!” Xavier yelled in the barn doorway. “Come on!”
Addie forgot the llama and galloped toward the exit.
“Guess I better go see what’s going on out there,” Ben said and followed my daughter out.
I tried to get Esmerelda to come to me so I could pet her, but now that it was just the three of us, she beelined over to Magnolia, whose brows shot up as she looked at me in disbelief.
“What?” she said rhetorically.
Then Esmerelda nuzzled Magnolia’s neck, making her laugh. She hesitantly ran her hand down the llama’s frizzy neck.
Esmerelda nuzzled her neck again, then lowered her llama snout and stuck it right between Magnolia’s breasts.
Magnolia took a step backward. “Are you seeing this? I’m not kidding about an assault.”
I grinned and moved to Magnolia’s side, putting my arm around her, pulling her into me. “Esmerelda, we could’ve been friends, but you just touched what’s mine.”
The llama snuffed, then turned away, as if she couldn’t care about the fallout of her poor decisions.
“Are you okay?” I asked Magnolia, who was still laughing.
“I’m okay but ready to exit the barn.”
“Good night, Betty,” I said toward the end stall. “Good night, Esmerelda. Pervert.”
As we walked out of the barn, Addie ran up to us. “Daddy, can I have a sleepover with Sienna and her sisters?”
Sienna and Nova followed a few feet behind Addie, their eyes on me.
“Did your dad say that’s okay, Sienna?” I asked.
She nodded, and Nova said, “We can all sleep in our playhouse bunk bed!”
“If Mr. West approved it, you can go,” I told my daughter. “You don’t have any pj’s with you though.”
“She can borrow some of mine,” Sienna said.
“Okay then,” I said. “But Addie? If the other kids aren’t invited, you need to be mindful of their feelings.”
“I will, Daddy!” My daughter ran off with the others, who were organizing a game of capture the flag in the open area on the other side of the house, by the chicken coop.
I pulled Magnolia into the shadows against the house, gently pressed her body against the wall with mine, kissed her, and said, “You know what that means?”
“What?”
“It means we can have our own sleepover.”
“Mmm, I’m in,” she said.
“Good.” I kissed her again. “Because I have plans for you all…night…long.”
“We should probably show our faces for a little longer inside first.”
I put some space between us, recognizing that the longer I kissed her, the harder it would be to not sneak away from Ben’s. “Not only is she sexy, she’s smart,” I said. “What more could a guy ever want?”
Knowing that was true, I ushered her inside while I still could.