Page 72 of A Holly Brown Christmas
And then you could have heard a pin drop.
Holly knew she had dozens of questions racing through her mind, but this certainly wasn’t the time for her to take the lead. Fortunately, Lucas was the one to break the silence.
“Uh…okay. So…did you guys talk?” he nervously asked.
“And no one better say dirty talk,” Kat warned, and everyone groaned.
“Alright, that’s enough,” Spencer said quietly. “While this entire situation tonight was a bit unorthodox, it forced your mother and I to have a conversation. And…”
“I’m sorry, but…I feel like this is a family matter and…” Pausing, Camille looked pointedly at Holly.
Lucas’s arm banded tightly around Holly’s waist. “She’s not leaving, Mom. She knows everything that’s going on, and it was Holly’s idea from the beginning to use the party to get you and Dad back together. None of this would be possible without her. Plus…I love her. She’s family, and she’s not going anywhere.”
Holly gasped with surprise as she turned and looked at him. “You…you love me?”
He nodded. “I do,” he softly whispered, caressing her cheek. “So much.”
“Oh my goodness…” she sighed happily.
“I know I should have waited until we were alone, but I wanted you and everyone to know it. I’m in love with you, Holly Brown. Utterly and completely in love with you.”
Tears stung her eyes and she reached up and pressed her lips to his, sinking into a kiss so tender, so perfect that it didn’t matter that they weren’t alone.
Until multiple people cleared their throats.
“We’ll get back to that later,” she promised him with a wink. “Clearly there are other issues that need to be dealt with.”
The boyish grin he gave her made her want to lean in and kiss him again, but she refrained.
“As I was saying,” Spencer said with a very pleased look on his face. “Tonight was the first time in a very long time—possibly years—that your mother and I had a conversation about us. Not work, not travel, not upcoming parties, but…us. To say it was long overdue is an understatement.”
“Why don’t we all sit down?” Anna suggested. “Not upstairs because the caterer and her staff are still cleaning up, but down here.”
They all shifted to one of the larger seating areas and sat down, and this time it was Camille who spoke.
“I resented all the time your father spent at the office or traveling for work. And instead of talking to him about it, I turned into someone that I’m ashamed of. I was hostile and snarky and spiteful. Your father’s worked so hard to give us this wonderful life and we have everything we could ever want, but I kept thinking I had to let everyone know what we had.” She shook her head. “I created a version of our lives that people would envy, but it was without love. It was soulless.”
“And I never told your mother how much I appreciated all that she did to make our lives so beautiful, so that’s on me. She always made it look so effortless and I took it for granted that it was actually very hard work for her.”
Camille smiled sadly. “And then Holly comes in and does a fabulous job in a quarter of the time,” she said, her voice a bit wobbly. “That’s why I was so upset. I walked in and it was like I was completely replaceable.”
“Mom, no one was trying to replace you,” Lucas said, his voice gentle and reassuring.
“But Holly…”
“Mrs. Brooks, the only reason I could do anything is because you laid the groundwork and did all the hard stuff,” Holly told her. “I didn’t have to come up with anything from scratch or figure out all the minor details because you did that already. I was merely following in your footsteps.”
“Thank you for saying that, dear. And I’m sorry I’ve been so rude to you. The party tonight was truly wonderful, and…” Pausing, she smiled bashfully. “I think your caterer is better than mine!”
Relief washed over her and she immediately jumped up from her spot next to Lucas and went over to hug his mother. “Thank you for saying that. I truly just wanted you to show up and see all the beautiful things that you created.”
When she sat back down, Lucas kissed her before pulling her in close.
“You’re very sweet,” Camille said. “Anyway, I feel like I’ve ruined everything and while it was my intention—because I was being spiteful—I don’t know how to fix everything.”
“Holly?” Melissa called from upstairs.
That was her cue to maybe let the family have some time to themselves. She quietly excused herself—kissing Lucas one more time—and made her way up the stairs.
