Chapter 30
“Stella, love. We’re home.” I gently woke her just as the plane was about to touch down on the runway.
She had fallen asleep the moment we sat on the plane, and I wrapped my arm around her.
Olivia and Melody followed suit in their seats behind us.
I couldn’t blame any of them one bit after hearing about the night they had.
I already hadn’t been sleeping well, so I answered Mel’s call on the first ring. I didn’t even hang up before my shoes were on and I was out the door.
Thankfully, Garrett had a buddy on his crew with his own plane and pilot license. I didn’t even want to think about what I would have done if I couldn’t have gotten to Stella as quickly as I had.
“Hi.” Her sweet voice pulled me from my fearful thoughts and reminded me she was right here, in my arms, safe.
“Hi.” I smiled down at her and kissed her forehead. “Do you want me to take you back to your room? Or do you want to come stay at my house for a bit?”
“Trixie’s, please,” she whispered.
I tried to ignore my own feelings of disappointment. As much as I wanted to keep her to myself, there was no denying the comfort of Grandma’s house, and I couldn’t fault Stella for that choice.
As the doors to the plane opened, Garrett was right there waiting for us.
He had wanted to come with me but was a little farther out on a job, and we both agreed that the quicker I could get to the girls, the better.
We gave each other a nod while I led Stella to my truck, and he grabbed Olivia and Melody’s bags.
“Wait,” Stella said suddenly and pulled out of my grasp, running toward the girls.
They turned at the sound of her approach and instantly fell into each other’s arms. Each of their bodies shook with their soft sobs, and Garrett looked as though he wanted to step in when I shook my head. They needed this moment, and they had each other.
Slowly they pulled away, each taking turns wiping the tears from another’s face. I heard the soft whisperings of “I love you” as they walked away from each other, and Stella’s hand came to find mine once again.
“Thank you,” she said softly.
“Of course. Ready?”
“Ready.”
My truck hadn’t even made it all the way up the driveway when Grandma Trixie came out of her house to stand on her deck, worry lines creasing all her features. As I pulled up to the house Gram came down to the passenger side of my truck, whipping Stella’s door open the moment I came to a stop.
“Come, dear, you’re home now,” Grandma said while pulling Stella into her arms. She led her up to the house, and by the time I came inside with Stella’s bags, they already had their crochet projects pulled out.
They each worked on their own blanket, but the way it draped over their laps and how they sat huddled together on the couch made it look like they worked together on one big afghan.
The warmth, safety, and security of this moment was something we all needed.
It took a few days and some more Grandma Trixie loving, but eventually Stella was right as rain being back in Love.
And if there was any silver lining to this god awful situation, it was that she finally had grounds to file a harassment charge against Nick. I wasn’t sure how much good it would do seeing as he never actually bothered her while she was in Love, but it was a small relief, nonetheless.
I, however, was still having a hard time coming to terms with the events from the weekend and struggled to even let Stella out of my sight.
Hearing Mel’s shaky voice on the phone when she explained that, although they were okay, someone had tried to break into their hotel room, sent a panic coursing through me that didn’t ease in the slightest until I had Stella in my arms and could see my sister with my own eyes.
That, coupled with the plethora of Stella’s medical history and hospital visits that Patrick was able to pull up when he put in the harassment charge, was something that kept me awake at night.
Nick had hurt her in ways that made it a damn miracle she was still standing here, smiling, today.
“Catch!” Stella’s voice broke me from my thoughts as she hurtled a ball of garland toward me as we stood on the deck of the bed and breakfast.
Thankfully, Grandma Trixie had put us to work getting everything decorated for Christmas so I didn’t have to take my eyes off Stella for any length of time.
The smile on her face faded as she caught my expression, and it broke me in a way I didn’t know was possible to realize I was the cause of that deflation.
“Can you please stop looking at me like I’m broken?” she asked, her eyes downcast.
“I’m not—” I cut myself off. I was. I hadn’t meant to but my insecurities surrounding my ability to keep the people in my life safe were having a negative effect on this connection of ours and I didn’t know how to shake it. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to. I just—how do you do it?”
“Do what?” She looked at me confused.
“How are you okay right now? Nick was there, the job was a setup. He cornered you and then had someone break into your hotel room. Stella, I can’t shake the fear I feel right now.” I grabbed her hands and looked into her eyes, the pit in my stomach threatening to pull me to my knees. “How did you?”
Her expression softened at my admission.
“Oh, Cal. I was okay because of you. Because of you and Trixie and Mel and Vicky and Garrett and Olivia and Patrick, because of Love. That wasn’t the first time Nick’s cornered me, not even close.
But it was the first time I had people who I knew were in my corner.
Even in the moments I was alone with him, I knew I wasn’t alone anymore.
Please believe me when I say that made all the difference. ”
Her smile was genuine as she squeezed my hands, and I was grateful to see this light back in her eyes, but it also made me see red to know that shit excuse of a man had cornered her so many times it had become something she was used to.
“That, and the fact that Mel beat Steven bloody with a table lamp.” She giggled and tension finally released its grip on me at the sound.
“Now, that’s something I wish I could have seen,” I replied honestly. Melody wasn’t someone you wanted to mess with. She took after Grandma Trixie in more ways than one, but as her big brother, I also took some prideful ownership in how she was able to react in that scenario.
“Now, can we go back to normal, please?” Oh, I was in trouble. With that look on her face, her big round eyes, she could have asked me for the moon, and I would have found a way to package it up and give it to her.
“Yes, of course. I’m sorry.” I nuzzled her nose, and she giggled.
Letting go of my hands, she turned around to grab something out of a box and then whipped back holding it over her head.
Laughing, I took her face in my hands. “Oh, Stella, the mistletoe isn’t necessary. If you want a kiss from me, all you ever have to do is ask.”
She was about to say something, but I crushed my lips against hers with a force I’d been craving since the moment I saw her in that airport but felt like she was too fragile to take her in that way.
Now I knew her strength, and if she could handle my broodiness, then she could handle the force of my lips against hers.
“Incoming!” someone yelled just as a snowball hit the side of my arm and broke apart, getting fresh snow in our faces.
I growled and glared at the source of our disturbance, but Stella just broke out into a big, beautiful laugh at the sight of my snow-covered beard.
Turning to the yard, we saw Garrett, Patrick, and his toddler son, Casper, making snowballs with the biggest mischievous grins on each of their faces.
Garrett pointed at Casper like it had been the curly haired two-year-old with the aim of a pro pitcher.
“Ooh, they’re going to get it.”
Game on. Garrett started the war, but I was about to finish it.
“NO-BALL IGHT!” Casper yelled with all his might, and the laugh that broke out of Stella sounded freer than I had ever heard it before.
“You heard him! Let’s go!” Stella grabbed my hand and pulled me into the yard, and I realized there was nowhere I wouldn’t have followed her.
We hurled snowball after snowball at each other, our stomachs sore from laughing by the end of it all.
Melody and Olivia ended up joining us, and when Patrick picked up Mel and tossed her in a snowbank, I thought she would have his head.
But the laugh that escaped her startled me and was so genuinely happy that I couldn’t find it in me to be mad at the sight of my best friend’s arms around my sister.
We stayed outside until our fingers and toes were cold. The pink that dusted Stella’s nose and cheeks was prettier than the colour of the most gorgeous rose I’d ever seen.
The next day, Stella and I walked hand in hand as we exited the post office on Main Street.
She had an affinity for the wedding photos that hung in there, and although I had seen them countless times, this was the first time I imagined what my own wedding photo might look like.
Who would be in it? My entire adult life, I never envisioned that as being in the cards for me, it wasn’t something I wanted or a goal I tried to obtain.
But now, with Stella in the picture, everything felt different.
Everything looked different, too, while we walked down Main Street as the entire town had transformed into our own rendition of the North Pole.
Every storefront featured sparkly lights and colourful decorations.
Stella’s eyes darted around like a kid in a candy store, desperate to take it all in without missing a thing.
Christmas in Love was incredible but being able to witness Stella experience it all firsthand was indescribable.
As we made our way to Cupid’s Cup to pick up some holiday drinks, I searched for every piece of mistletoe I could find—not only to kiss her, but to show the whole town of Love that she was going to be mine.