Chapter 16
Carrie stuck her head into Bella’s office, “Are you leaving soon? Did you want me to stay and lock up?”
“No, you go ahead, I know you need to pick up Madison at the airport. Give her a big, squishy hug from me and tell her I missed her at the party this year.” Carrie’s daughter was in nursing school and was flying home that day.
Bella double checked that the customer service company they used to monitor any possible issues with products or missing packages was all set up.
She turned off the lights, set the alarm, and locked up, pausing for a moment in the doorway.
It had been quite a year, and a successful one.
Bella was pleased that everyone’s Christmas bonus was double the amount of last year's, and had been speaking to Big G and Mary about setting up some kind of incentive program for the employees in addition to the other benefits they already offered - Bella was a big fan of spreading the wealth.
Getting into her car, she turned on her holiday playlist and pulled out of the parking lot, heading home. She had so much to do before everyone arrived, but she had a list, had checked it twice and was ready for the chaos that was sure to happen.
“I Believe in Father Christmas” by Greg Lake came on the car’s sound system and Bella turned it up.
It was one of her favorite Christmas songs.
The song brought last week's company Christmas party to mind. Jack had been able to get away for a day, as well as being able to stay over that night, so he joined them at the party. When he walked into the restaurant heads had turned to look and followed as he walked straight to Bella’s side and greeted her with a kiss.
But no heads turned faster than Bella’s when she saw who was with him - a certain Lt Commander Mike Rendit.
Swiveling to look at Carrie, Carrie blushed and said “What? He’s funny.
And cute.” Jack had definitely not been lying about Navy boys.
Everyone had a wonderful night, and as she and Jack made the rounds, she felt him take her hand guiding her along, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. This is nice.
Arriving home, she disarmed the security system, walked into the kitchen to feed Primrose, before a nice hot bath and an early night. The madness would be starting soon, and she was ready for it!
A few days later Jack and the girls turned into Bella’s driveway, and before they all got out, Jack asked them to please be on their best behavior. “That means you too Daisy.” Daisy looked at him, her head tilting as if to say “Who me? I'm a good girl!”
Angela and Madeline met them at the door, introduced themselves and helped carry in their cases and several bags of wrapped presents to be placed under the massive tree in the family room. Running to see who was there, Primrose skidded to halt when she saw the other Corgi.
Daisy stared back at her, then gave a little chuff of greeting. Sniffing at each other with their nubby tails wiggling, they took off running, both dogs with a serious case of the zoomies.
“I guess we don’t have to worry about those two getting along!” said Bella as she came to the door to greet them.
"Angela, Madeline, will you show Sloane and Piper which rooms are theirs? And girls," she added, turning to Sloane and Piper, "there are fresh towels in the guest bathroom for you."
“Hey, Sloane, Hey, Piper, I’m Angela. That’s a cute bag charm - where did you get that?”
“I’m Madeline, I love your trainers - Puma?”
“Trainers?” asked Piper
“Yes, it’s what we call tennis shoes in the UK. C’mon, let’s get your bags put away.”
Knowing how much privacy matters to teenage girls, Bella had given Sloane and Piper each their own room.
With all four girls in their own rooms, the couch fell to Jack, which he agreed with - still too soon for sleepovers in front of them.
As a surprise, Bella had hired a van to drive them to Fort Worth that afternoon.
None of the girls had ever been there, and she thought they would enjoy the historic area, especially the real cattle drive with Texas Longhorn cattle that happened every day.
Afterwards they ate an old-time steakhouse, before returning home.
The dogs had been remarkably well behaved, so after letting them out, both Corgis were rewarded with extra treats.
They all turned in for an early night, as the next day was Christmas Eve and sure to be hectic!
Christmas Eve was a busy day. Wanting Sloane and Piper to feel at home, Bella had asked them about some of their Christmas traditions, and they said they always had a Taco Bar on Christmas Eve, where everyone made their own tacos, along with sides like beans, rice, salsa, guacamole, and more - they were immediately excited — who doesn't love tacos!
While Bella picked up a few last-minute things for Christmas dinner, the girls took over the kitchen making sugar cookies and decorating them.
“What shows do you like to watch?” asked Madeline.
“We love the Real Housewives,” said Sloane.
“No way, so do I - which one do you watch?” replied Madeline.
“My favorite is Real Housewives of New Jersey.”
“Same, I love Teresa, she’s the best” said Angela.
“We love Teresa” chimed in Piper. “And we hate that Melissa!”
“Ugh, she’s the worst!” agreed Angela.
From the doorway Bella and Jack exchanged an amused look, both quietly relieved they were getting along.
After cleaning up the cookie mess in the kitchen, Bella started dinner, with the girls setting up all the plates, serving bowls, and platters on the kitchen island, where they would serve themselves.
Dinner was a rousing success, and afterwards they settled into the living room planning to watch a few Christmas shows, and apparently a Real Housewives special the girls all demanded to watch.
A few minutes into the first show, the doorbell rang, setting both dogs off barking.
Before anyone could move, the door opened, they heard a voice calling out, “Bella, Girls, where are you?”
“Dad, Mom, what are you doing here? I thought we weren’t seeing you till tomorrow?” asked Bella. She got up off the sofa, gave them both hugs and introduced them to Jack’s girls.
"Jack, you know my dad already. Mom, this is Jack."
"It's really nice to meet you, Mrs. Genovese," Jack said. “Thank you for letting us crash your Christmas — the girls have talked of nothing else for two weeks."
He turned to Big G with a handshake. "Big G, good to see you. Merry Christmas."
“We thought we’d surprise the girls. We booked a horsedrawn carriage to take us around Highland Park, to see all the mansions there decorated for Christmas. Would you like to come with us? They have blankets to keep you warm, and cups of hot chocolate,” said Mary.
“Dad, Dad - can we go? That sounds awesome!” cried Sloane.
“Sure, honey, you can go. That sounds like a lot of fun. Thank you for thinking of them Mrs. Genovese - that is really kind of you.”
“It’s no problem, Angela and Madeline loved doing it when they were younger, so we thought your girls might too.”
“Hey Nana, we still love doing that - is there room for us? “
“Of course, Big G booked the big carriage. But you’d better get a move on, we have to be there by 7:30 and we can’t be late. Sorry, Bella, there’s no room for you and Jack, so I guess you’ll have to stay home.,” Mary said with a wink at Bella.
“Thank you Mom,” Bella mouthed back.
Everyone bundled up and out the door, Jack turned to Bella and said “Look. Mistletoe.”
“I know I didn’t hang mistletoe.”
“It’s there, you just can’t see it. Trust me. It’s my job to notice things” he said, pulling her into his arms, and kissing her so thoroughly she was weak in the knees.
“Oh yes, I see it now.”
Deciding to take advantage of the empty house, they wrapped presents to put under the tree, and left milk and cookies on the little table next to the tree for Santa, although Jack swore Santa was really a scotch man, so a small glass of Laphroaig was left out as well.
When they were done with all that, they sat on the sofa, holding hands and enjoying a moment of quiet.
Daisy and Primrose were both stretched out under the tree, like they were gifts waiting to be opened.
The girls arrived back about 10:30pm, talking a mile a minute about how great it was, with Sloane showing Jack all the photos she’d taken with her phone.
Getting them all to bed was a task. Bella took a quick bath before joining Jack on the sofa for a nightcap - and a few more ‘mistletoe’ kisses - before getting him set up with pillows and a blanket and heading into her own bed, setting the alarm on her phone for midnight.
Finally the house was quiet and silent, except for the sounds of two Corgis snoring softly in the kitchen.
“Sloane, Sloane, wake up,” Sloane heard a whisper and a soft shake on her shoulder.
“Angela, is everything okay? It’s like midnight.”
“Exactly. Get your robe on and meet us in the kitchen.”
Sloane stumbled out of her room, and saw Piper doing the same, with Madeline behind them, saying “C’mon, C’mon!”
Jack was asleep on the sofa when he awoke to noise and loud music. Am I dreaming or is that the ‘Coconut’ song by Harry Nilsson playing?
Throwing off the blanket, Jack got off the sofa, wandered into the kitchen.
“What are you doing?” Jack said, stopping dead in his tracks as he saw Bella, Angela, Madeline, Sloane, and Piper in the kitchen - that IS the ‘Coconut’ song playing - all of them in their jammies, sipping some kind of frozen drink in glasses, dancing and singing around the kitchen.
“It’s Midnight Margaritas Dad!” yelled Piper over the music.
“What?”
“You know, Midnight Margaritas from that movie, ‘Practical Magic,’ where they make margaritas at midnight and dance around the kitchen. Angela said they recreate it every Christmas Eve and asked if we wanted to join them this year. This is SO much fun!”
As she danced by Jack, Angela whispered to him, "Don't worry, there’s no tequila in these” and spun away as they all laughed and danced a conga line through the kitchen.
Watching Bella sing and dance along with them, he thought she was crazy, in the best kind of way. I’ve been a really good boy this year, Santa. Please bring me what I want.