Chapter 39 Stephanie #2
She laughed. “Did you give him a cheat sheet, Steph?”
“Nah, she just talks about y’all that much.” He smiled at me, dimples and all, melting my insides like butter. Darn those dimples.
“Did the guys come up, too?” I asked, shifting the conversation away from myself and giving my face a chance to cool its Sahara Desert temperatures.
“Yeah, Ryan kidnapped them to show them something downstairs. I heard rumours of a garage and a motorcycle…” Liz said.
Emmett growled and stalked away, thumping down the stairs. “Ryan Jacobs, I swear if you touch that thing—”
“Serves him right,” Nash crowed.
Emmett and Danielle might be more introverted compared to Ryan and Kelsi, but they sure knew how to throw a party.
Light jazz music crooned in the background, the TV fire flickered, the Christmas tree still twinkled with lights, the table groaned with the platters of appetizers and snacks, and despite the abundance of new faces added to the group, nothing felt weird or awkward.
Particularly after our first ice-breaker game—two truths and a lie.
Nana stared Ryan dead in the face, her red lips twitching as she rattled off her three facts. “I never cried during the movie Up, I had a lovely chat with Grace Kelly when she visited New York City in 1959, and I had a Japanese pen pal as a teenager.”
She was remarkably well prepared for a woman who’d had no warning about this game. But she was Charmain Russo Addams. Should I really have been surprised? She was prepared for everything.
“Aha!” Ryan leapt from the couch, pointing at her. “The first one has to be a lie. No one doesn’t cry through Up unless they’re a psychopath. Which, you don’t strike me as.”
Kelsi snickered. “Nice save, babe.”
From where I was curled up next to Nash on the loveseat, I shook with silent laughter. This was so much better than what Kelsi hoped for. I knew the answer, of course, but Nana was sneaky. I’d give her that. Ryan wouldn’t know what hit him.
“Well?” Ryan grinned with the air of a man fully confident in his reasoning. Too bad he was about to be outsmarted by my octogenarian mastermind of a grandparent. “I have my doubts about the other ones, but—”
“You calling me a liar, sunny boy?” Nana raised a feathered eyebrow.
Ryan’s eyes went dinner-plate wide. “Eh… no, ma’am, just… questioning the sheer… expansive experience of the life you’ve lived.”
Nana cackled. “Oh, you’re smooth.” She shot me a wink then dropped the bomb. “I never cried through Up is true.”
Everyone gasped.
Ryan blinked at her. “But… you don’t have the eyes of a psychopath.”
I couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst into loud snorting laughter, clapping a hand over my mouth. “I’m sorry… sorry,” I wheezed, trying to control my hysterics. “She’s never seen it.”
“What?” Ryan demanded, glancing between us.
Nana smiled impishly with a toss of her permed head. “Can’t cry over a movie you’ve never seen.” She tapped her temple with her pointer finger, nodding knowingly.
Ryan stared at her in unabashed admiration. “I want to be you when I grow up.”
“Looks like you’ll be waiting a while.” Nana winked at him, and they shared a chummy smile.
“Then what’s the lie?” Kelsi asked, eyes wide. “Please tell me you did meet Grace Kelly.”
Nana folded her hands, eyes going soft with remembrance. “That’s also true. She was a lovely woman. Very kind. My cousin was the one with a Japanese pen pal.”
Because of course she was.
By nine o’clock, the littles were camped out asleep in their sleeping bags in the basement. Except for Sadie, the Mitchells’ oldest.
“Mom, can I please go read now?” Sadie begged as we hung out in the living room.
Danielle shifted baby Sebastian on her shoulder and smiled. “Sure, sweetie. Are you sure you want to stay up?”
Sadie’s blonde head bobbed as she leaned on the arm of the couch. “But I want to read my new books. And Neverland is perfect. Daddy set up the fairy lights.”
“Of course he did.” Danielle chuckled. “Off with you then.”
“Thanks!” Sadie bounded across the room and, after loading up a plate of snacks, hurried down the hall.
“Neverland?” Paisley asked curiously from beside me on the couch.
“Yeah. This house has… quirks. There’s a weird little hidey-hole in her room that Emmett turned into a reading nook for her, and she’s obsessed with all things Peter Pan.”
“Aw, how sweet. And now I’m a little jealous.”
“Need me to take him, Dani?” Kelsi asked from where she was curled up on the brown leather recliner. Her ginger hair was knotted into a messy bun, and she cradled her cup of hot chocolate like a lifeline.
“Only if you want to, otherwise I’m good.”
“No complaints from me. We’ve got time before he needs another feeding.” Kelsi stifled a yawn, then grinned wickedly. So typically Kelsi. “You got baby fever?”
Instead of laughing at the teasing, delicate pink flushed Danielle’s cheeks, and she shot a glance in Emmett’s direction, biting her lip. He and the guys were clustered around the dining room table with a card game, which from the groans and cheers, someone was losing badly.
“Oh my gosh, are you pregnant?” Liz hissed around a mouthful of carrot sticks and dip.
Danielle tucked her chin against the baby’s downy head, smiling. “We weren’t going to announce it yet, but yeah. Due in June.”
I slapped a hand over my mouth to keep in a squeal as I bolted upright. Liz was under no such compulsion and whooped as she and Kelsi jumped to their feet. If Dani wanted to play it cool, she’d picked the wrong group of friends. Because we were the furthest thing from chill about this.
Liz plopped down next to Danielle, squeezing her into a hug, while Kelsi perched on the couch arm, hand on Danielle’s shoulder. Even crusty Juliet smiled, eyes shining. Babies were to be celebrated, and our friend group did that well.
Amid the well-wishes, dozens of questions, and hushed screaming—baby Sebastian was sleeping after all—I glanced at Paisley next to me. “Pais, you okay?”
It’d only been just over a week ago she’d talked about not being pregnant herself.
“Hmm?” She shook her head, dazed, as if returning from a different world.
“Where’d you go?” From the first moment I’d met Paisley, I’d become acquainted with the top of her head because her nose was always in a book.
She lived and breathed literature—no doubt why she’d become a librarian.
And part of that was the occasional wistful look that snatched her from the reality of us into some far-off land.
Was that where she was now—trekking the depths of Middle Earth or some other such place? Or was she hiding some deeper hurt?
Paisley smiled softly, and I didn’t detect pain in the gesture. But a longing lingered in her emerald eyes behind those too-large frames. “I’m still here. Just… basking in the wonder of reality. Soaking in the moments, you know? Sometimes it feels too good to be true…” She swallowed hard.
I clasped her hand. “I know a little about the ache when it comes to watching others get what you’re wishing for.”
Sympathy touched her smile. “You waited a long time for him”—she tilted her head in Nash’s direction—“all the while celebrating with us.”
“Yeah.” I shifted so our heads leaned together. “Doesn’t mean it wasn’t hard. And it’s okay to be honest about that.”
“It’s trusting God’s timing, right?” she said softly. “His ways and plans are better than our wildest dreams. Even if the moments feel bleak.”
“Always.”
We stayed that way for a moment. Until she added, “We met your brother and his family. Mama D had them over for dinner the day after the game. The showdown between Cal and Myles getting Jackson’s attention was epic.”
I snorted. “Please tell me you got video footage.”
Juliet scoffed, and I wondered how long she’d been listening even though we’d been quiet. “Of course we did. What, do we look like amateurs?”
“Jackson called me that night and couldn’t string two words together in his excitement.”
“They won, thank goodness,” Paisley said, stretching her back. “And Cal got him a locker-room tour.”
“Why that’s appealing is beyond me.” Juliet shuddered. “They’re grown, sweaty men. Who stink.”
“And yet you married one,” Liz teased.
A goofy smile that looked so out of place on Juliet’s usually stony expression touched her lips, and her aquamarine eyes softened as she found Myles watching her across the room. They were such newlyweds. “The perks outweigh the cons.”
A hand cupped my shoulder, and I tilted my head back. “Hi,” I said as Nash smiled down at me.
“Hey.”
“Did you win?”
“You bet.” His lips curved in a smirk. “Emmett even helped a bit.”
“In your dreams,” Emmett grunted, tromping across the living room and settling in beside his wife. His face relaxed as his arm settled around her, and he studied the sleeping infant, drooling on her shoulder.
“Such confidence,” I teased.
“Never thought I’d say this, but time out, you two,” Ryan called from packing up the card game. “We’re not used to this level of flirting from you.”
“You’re one to talk after the display you put on the other week,” Nash shot back.
“All right, boys, time for bingo!” Danielle announced, rolling her eyes like she’d refereed their bickering a hundred times. Which, to be fair, she had.
We played countless bingo rounds, each winner getting to pick a prize from the gift bin.
Just like Christmas Eve, we all brought a small wrapped gift for the winners’ bin.
Thankfully, there was no stealing this time and no weird family dynamics with siblings who ganged up on you.
If you got bingo, you picked a prize. Pure and simple.
At five minutes to midnight, we crammed into the farmhouse-style kitchen.
Emmett poured glasses of sparkling apple-cranberry juice and Danielle passed them around.
Sadie emerged from Neverland with droopy eyes and a crease on her left cheek, book still tucked under her arm, like she couldn't bear to leave it behind.
Paisley scurried over to her, and the two bent heads were instantly best friends discussing far-off worlds of imagination.
Nash draped an arm around my shoulders, tucking me into his side. A perfect fit.
I smiled up at him, glass in hand. “Are we supposed to make a wish or something? Or is that just for birthday candles?”
He chuckled. “Wish away.”
“Are you going to?”
“Don’t need to, darlin’. I got everything I wanted this Christmas.” His warm espresso eyes melted me, and I leaned farther into him.
Emmett glanced at his watch. “All right, in ten… nine…”
The rest of us took up the count, and happiness fizzled in my veins as I surveyed our little group. Despite the uncertainty on the horizon with the launch, this moment was golden—a treasure. My eyes slid shut, taking a mental snapshot. It was one worth holding onto.
“Three… two… one… HAPPY NEW YEAR!”
Nash lifted his glass to mine and clinked it gently, then bent down and kissed me gently. “Happy New Year, Steph.”
I kissed him back. “May it be our best one yet.”
“Hey, there’s fireworks!” Sadie cried, pelting down the stairs and out the front door.
Nash and I followed her, a few others trailing behind us. The wind was still biting and frigid, despite the layers, but the whistle and crack of the fireworks going up the next street over were worth it. The colours danced overhead in a tapestry of red, green, and silver.
It was just starting to snow again, the snowflakes catching in our hair. I stole a glance at Nash and watched the way the flickering fireworks cast shadows on his face. His grin was boyish and adorable. Strong and steady. I slipped my icy hand in his and squeezed it lightly.
He squeezed back. Three times.
I tilted my head at him curiously. Despite Gabe’s best efforts, I hadn’t mastered Morse code.
“I love you,” he whispered.
Happiness trickled through my fingers and all the way down to my toes. I was… content and a little giddy. And I loved it. Loved him.
I sent a return message of my own with four squeezes. I love you, too.
Nash smiled down at me, the streetlight’s soft glow winking off his glasses and the powdery snow sticking to his hair and coat.
Despite the nipping wind, his gaze was warm.
He lifted our entwined fingers and kissed the back of my hand.
“Steph,” he whispered, leaning down till our noses nearly touched.
I loved when he said my name, but the swoosh of a window opening above us cut off our moment. And when we looked up, Emmett was hanging out the window with a Nerf gun.
“Please remember your audience,” he groused, waving the gun towards Sadie, who was still mesmerized with the pyrotechnics display. “I will use this if you get mushy.” But his lips were twitching with a hidden smile beneath his beard.
For all his grumbling, he was happy for us. Unable to resist a tease of my own, I stood on tiptoes and kissed Nash’s cheek, dragging him towards the door out of the way as Emmett let out a shot.
“Bah humbug!” Nash called out to him.
“Wrong holiday, Nashville.”
I laughed till my sides ached in Nash’s arms, under the streetlights and the pop of the fireworks. And it felt right. Like home.