Page 82 of Maybe This Christmas
A dual yelp echoed throughout the night.He knew well enough to know it was his dad and uncle.
“Oh, jeez.I hope they’re not burning the place down for real this time.”
They rounded the corner to find Uncle Gordon pulling out what looked like a perfectly fried turkey.
“Well, I’ll be damned.It worked this time!”
“If it didn’t, I think your turkey fryer would find its way to the dump,” Emma quipped.
Everyone laughed at that.“Come on, let’s get this turkey inside.Everyone’s hungry.”
Once the turkey was safely inside, everyone made their way into the kitchen and dining room where the buffet was set up.He knew everyone in the room.Emma didn’t yet, but she would soon.
“Look, Em.”He pointed to the mantle.Nestled amongst the other stockings, there was a new one.It was made from a retro Christmas pattern.Totally Emma’s style.Her name had been embroidered in a loopy, cursive font.
She reached over to admire it.“What?How?”
Sabrina appeared with a plate.“Oh, that’s Mom’s doing.She made one for Brandon before we were together, too.It’s her superstition.That works, I guess.Welcome to the family, Em.”
Caleb drew her in for a kiss.“Let’s not scare her off just yet, huh?This is bad enough.”He gestured around the room.
“I love it, though.I’m where I’m meant to be.I know that now.”
“That makes two of us.”
Epilogue
Fifteen months later
“A little to the left.”Emma gestured to Caleb, who was awkwardly posed in the display window of Yours Truly, trying to get the angle just right on the sign in their spring display.
He nudged the sign to the right.“No, not my left, yours!”
Caleb cupped his hand to his ear.He mumbled something, not that she could hear him through the thick glass.This was her second spring in Falling Leaves, but the first since Yours Truly had been open.
The shop window just had to be perfect.But perfection was hard to come by if your husband couldn’t hear you through the thick, hundred-year-old paned glass.
She swung open the bright yellow door and ducked her head inside.“A little toyourleft!It’s almost there.”
He nodded and nudged the hand-lettered sign a little to the left.Emma had spent weeks on it.Then, he paused to adjust the remaining display contents.Easter baskets brimming with different stationery supplies, soft, collectible rabbits, and other baby stuffed animals congregated in front of the display.
She clapped her hands together and rushed back inside for a final look.
“Perfect.Now, let’s get up the bunting, and it’s all done.”
Caleb awkwardly ducked his head as he backed out of the window.He jumped from the stepladder.Once it was stowed away, he ran a hand down her bare arm.His golden wedding band caught the light.The whole husband-wife business was relatively new.They’d gotten married two weeks before Christmas—of course—in the chapel at Sky House.It seemed fitting that they’d had their wedding at the place where they’d first met.
And of course, she’d been a Christmas bride.Nothing else had made sense to her.The wedding had been a candlelight affair right at dusk.It’d started to snow as they took their vows.
“You’ve gone to the faraway place again, Em.You all right?”Caleb reached behind him for the pastel bunting.She’d made it herself during one of the shop’s many craft nights.
“I was just thinking about our wedding.How perfect it was.”
He set some of the bunting around her shoulders and tugged on it.She tumbled into his arms.“You really love me, don’t you, kid?”
She rolled her eyes.“Not when you call me that, but sure, I do.”
He brushed his knuckles against her chin.“Let’s get this wrapped up.They’re about to shut down the street for the celebration.”
