Chapter 36
VIVIENNE
“Ho, ho, ho, merry Christmas!” Nate calls as he comes down the grand staircase of his childhood home, a black garbage bag slung over his shoulder.
Santa costume. Whiter than snow curly hair and beard. An obvious pillow shoved into the waistband of his pants to give the illusion of a thick belly. It’s all too much for me to take in, and I can’t help the giggle that makes its way past my lips.
I’ve seen this man in all his naked glory. Firm chest, built back, with the greatest ass to exist. This sight is a complete one-eighty from what I’m used to, but somehow, I find myself more attracted to him than before.
I wouldn’t mind it one bit. Growing old and gray. Filling out the clothes that may have once fit us. Body and mind worn down with time. It all sounds like a privilege I hope to have.
I make a show of biting my lower lip, and when his gaze catches mine, he winks. My cheeks heat in response, and despite all the commotion around us, the only thought on my mind is getting him out of that suit. Not exactly an appropriate thought to have while being surrounded by so many children.
His entire extended family is here, and by the looks and sounds of it, these kids are having the time of their lives.
They’re running around the red, gold, and green-decorated space, screaming and jumping with excitement for Santa to come down faster. And with the way Nate is playing up his character, I’d be going livid as well if I still believed in the magic of Christmas.
A bump to my shoulder catches me off guard. I look to my right to see Audrey, a reindeer headband resting on her head. Her smile is wide, and her eyes twinkle so wildly I’d blame the eggnog if not for the small belly she’s sporting.
Another kid on the way—this woman is about to have her hands full.
“Quite the catch, isn’t he?” she asks with a nod in Nate’s direction, who’s now calling out names and handing out gifts one by one.
Despite being so consumed with acting like the perfect Santa Claus, his gaze never fails to trail back to me with a warmth that makes my chest tighten.
“He is,” I say with no hesitation.
“Anya Goldman,” Nate calls out for his niece, who seems oblivious to who’s behind the costume as she runs up to him. But it’s the names he calls out next that strike me with Cupid’s arrow. “Margaret and Phil Johnson.”
I already gave the two crazy elders their gifts, so I’m certain these ones are just from him. And given the look of shock on their faces, I think they know that as well.
In some ways, their expression reminds me of my own when Nate asked me to come celebrate Christmas with him. It was unexpected, a genuine surprise since we’d only been officially back together for a week, but I couldn’t say no, especially when he extended the invitation to those two.
That moment made me realize one very important thing. I may no longer have relatives by blood, but I can say with certainty that I’ve found myself a second family.
I found it in Nate, who cherishes me every day. In his family, who treat me as their own. In Phil and Margaret, who bring a certain kind of commotion I most certainly won’t find elsewhere.
While I consider Sutton and Evelyn part of that unit, the girls couldn’t join us this evening because they're off with their own.
Still, that didn't stop either of them from flooding my phone with inappropriate messages after I sent a picture of myself sitting on Nate’s lap—better known today as Santa Claus.
From "tell Daddy Claus the real milk and cookies are in between your legs" to "enjoy the evening, you deserved it," everything was covered. And names aside, it didn’t take rocket science to determine which text came from whom.
“You know what I couldn’t help but notice recently?” Audrey snaps me out of my thoughts, reverting my attention to the present moment.
I look over at her when she points to my left hand.
“How come you haven’t worn your ring the last couple of times you’ve been over for dinner?”
While a wide smirk grows on her face, mine loses all its color.
Margaret and Phil knew about everything that went down, but Nate still never told his family. We’d only been separated for a week, and decided it didn’t matter when we were back together. This time around, we were doing things right—no more ring, and no more lying (from now on).
“I—” The words get stuck in my throat.
Audrey laughs so hard it draws mother hen’s attention whose brows furrow at my shocked state.
“What’s so funny?” Natalia asks as she looks back and forth between us.
Audrey is still wheezing, face beet red. And somehow, from the dismissive shake of her hand and a look in Nate’s direction, Natalia catches on, finding herself in much the same state as her daughter.
A shaky hand lands on my shoulder. “We know, Vivienne. You don’t have to answer the question I asked you,” Audrey barely chokes out.
My mouth opens and closes. Know what?
Natalia clears the air for me. “Oh, honey, we knew the engagement was fake from the start. There’s no need to play along anymore.”
My heart sinks to the pit of my stomach as Natalia guffaws louder. She slips herself between Audrey and me, throwing an arm around each of our shoulders and pulling us close.
“A mother always knows what’s up with her kids. There’s never any need to voice it. We just know.”
Audrey nods in agreement, still cackling.
“Plus, Nate has never been that kind of guy,” Natalia continues.
“We always knew what was going on in his life—his close friends, the problems he encountered. He kept his dating life private—not that he had one aside from my friend’s daughter—but that’s because he knew early on that things weren’t going to lead anywhere.
He would have never gotten engaged to a woman without introducing her as a girlfriend first, so it was pretty obvious. ”
I agree with her last sentence, but I really did believe that his family bought our charade.
“Then how come you went along with it?” I ask, genuinely baffled.
She shrugs with her signature smirk. “Thought it would be fun. You seemed like a nice girl, so I didn’t think it would be a bad idea to ship the two of you together.
Plus, I have eyes. I saw the way you guys were looking at each other.
The attraction was there, you were both just too hardheaded to cave. ”
“I am so sorry,” I apologize on a sigh. “We should have been upfront from the start.”
“Don’t you dare apologize,” Natalia scolds. “I had the time of my life ruffling both your feathers. Plus, it doesn’t count anymore now that you’re really on your way to becoming my daughter-in-law. Look at the way he looks at you. That boy is smitten.”
At her mention, I look up and see exactly that—Santa whispering into Anya’s ear as she giggles her little heart out. The entire picture is perfect: his light green eyes, trained on me, are twinkling with so much love and wonder.
His moment is cut short, though, when Anya gasps, and realization dawns on her features. She points an accusatory finger in Nate’s direction. “Why do you sound like my uncle?”
The room goes silent.
Nate’s smile fades.
Audrey’s face goes red.
The adults in the room look worried for their own children, while Melanie, Adam, and Grayson double over in quiet laughter.
“Yeah, where is Nate, anyway?” Adam looks around the room, prompting all the kids to follow suit.
Audrey escapes from her mother’s embrace, clapping her hands to grab everyone’s attention. “Looks like it’s time for Santa Claus to go.” She grabs Nate by the wrist, pulling him in the direction of the staircase where he went down. “He’s got some other houses to tend to.”
“Ho, ho, ho, well, isn’t that correct. Thank you for managing my time, Ms. Audrey. You just saved Christmas!”
Anya’s bare feet patter against the floor as she runs after the sister and brother duo. “But, Mommy, there’s no fireplace upstairs, only in the living room. Isn’t that where Santa comes and goes from?”
Audrey stills, taken aback by her daughter, while Nate looks over his shoulder and whispers, “That’s payback for the Playboy posters.”
He runs off before she gets the chance to hold him back, now having to face her menace of a daughter alone.
“This is different, sweetie. Santa Claus needs to go to the washroom first. He drank too much milk, and his tummy hurts now.” Audrey nods along like she’s trying to convince herself of that as well. “He’s lactose intolerant.”
“But the glass is still full.” Anya gestures toward it.
Natalia and I burst out laughing, no longer able to contain ourselves, when I get a text from Nate, telling me to come upstairs.
The girls are still arguing about Santa Claus’ so-called stomach issues when I sneakily go up the stairs. I barely make it past the last step before I’m shoved against the nearest wall, pillow pressing against my stomach as hands cradle my face.
“I missed you,” Nate whispers against my lips, eyes burning into me with a heat I recognize.
My breathing grows heavy as all the possibilities of what could be going through his mind run through mine. So I cave in to the one thing I can give him right now.
I close the space between us, claiming his mouth in a searing kiss that only grows hotter and heavier as each second passes by.
We’ve always been like this—passionate, urgent in our need for touch—but it’s shifted since we became official.
There’s no more denying our feelings, no fighting what’s between us. And while we technically did take a step down on the commitment ladder, I couldn’t have asked for it to play out any other way.
We’ll have our bumps down the road, like any other couple, but as Margaret showed, a relationship is about going through those hardships with your partner and still choosing each other in the end.
“I can’t get enough of you.” Nate breaks our kiss, leaning back just enough to say the words.