Page 46 of Avoiding the Merry Viscount
Elias had beeneager for weeks for him and Lydia to celebrate their first official Christmas together as husband and wife. The day after Christmas, a year ago, he went to Town and procured the special license and then they were wed the following day with their family and friends in attendance. Hudson and Diana served as their witnesses, and the family had a joyous wedding breakfast before Elias and Lydia left their guests to celebrate without them, and didn’t show their faces for over a week.
He watched as his father walked around the drawing room with Elias and Lydia’s daughter, pride and love radiating from the elder Snowdon as he gazed upon his first grandchild. He had broken down in sobs when he learned they had named her Emily, after Elias’s mother.
“I think she just smiled at her grandpapa,” he called Elias. “You did, didn’t you, my sweet girl,” he cooed at the babe.
Jude walked over and looked at the babe and then at Elias’s father. “I believe she did. And thank goodness she took after her mother.” Jude caught Elias’s gaze and smirked.
“I quite agree,” Elias replied, waving him off. “Although she has my eyes.” The sapphire blue eyes his family was known for had passed to another generation.
Jude, Hudson, and Matt were all still unwed. Jude and Hudson hadgathered at the Snowdon estate for the holidays. Diana was too far along in her pregnancy to travel, so they would all go to spend a few days with her, closer to when the babe would come.
Hannah had gone to spend the holidays with Diana and her husband, who Matt had become close friends with. So he had decided to spend the holidays there too. Hudson had tried to stop Hannah from going since Matt would be there, since another year had passed with no resolution between them, nor did anyone know why Hudson couldn’t let matters go. But Diana wrote to Hudson and gave him a written set down for trying to keep her friend from her while she was in a delicate condition. He grumbled like he usually did about such things, but ultimately allowed Hannah to go.
It was a smaller group that year for the holiday with just the group of men, his father and sisters, and Lydia’s parents in residence, as well as little Emily, and Elias preferred it that way. No longer did they need to fill the house with chaos to avoid the sadness of losing their mother, as they had so much love to be thankful for. He had decided the day he married Lydia that, from then on, he would make the most of every moment with his family.
Lydia strolled into the room, and his breath caught. She still had that hold over him, and he’d never tire of the way she laughed, or the way she sang to their daughter, or the way her eyes darkened when he drove her over the cliff of unbridled ecstasy.
She came over to him and sat on the arm of his chair. “Our sisters are almost ready to go cut the greenery. I have asked Jude and Hudson to assist each of them.” Lydia leaned closer and brushed her lips against his. “And the cabin is ready for us.”
His cock twitched, knowing what awaited him when they snuck out to have a repeat of their first Christmas Eve. “Have I told you how much I love you, Beautiful?”
“Perhaps not in the last couple of hours,” she teased, placing a kiss on his temple. “Are you almost finished?” she asked, pointing towardthe parchment in his lap.
“Yes, I was going to fold it now.”
Lydia kissed his temple again and rose from the armrest. “Well, do so and don your greatcoat, then we shall all depart.”
Elias looked down at the parchment. He had decided he would honor his mother’s tradition of writing letters on Christmas. He had already written Lydia’s, and included a couple of passages that were sure to make her blush and lead to a more than pleasant, mutually beneficial Christmas night.
But he had been working to get the one for Emily just right. She wouldn’t be able to read it for herself until she was older, but he would read it to her on Christmas Day and then save it for her when she was older. Elias held up the parchment and read it again to himself.
Sweet Emily,
Every time I look at you, I see the best parts of your mama and me, and I couldn’t love you more. I would give you the moon if you asked for it, and I hope that you always know how loved you are. You have the love of so many people in your life, and love is never something to take for granted or fear. There is nothing more important than the people we love, and your mama and I are going to make sure you grow up knowing that you shall never settle for anything less than what you deserve.
We haven’t told anyone else yet, but your mama is going to give you a brother or sister several months from now. So take it easy on her, since she’s trying to hide how sick she feels.
I love you, sweet girl,
Papa
Elias glanced up at the candle burning on the mantle for their mother, thinking about how she would’ve been the best of grandmamas. He could only hope that she might smile down on them from wherever her spirit was, that she had found peace in knowing thatthey had all turned out all right.
He stood to join the family outside, and turned back to look at the candle again, closing his eyes for a moment, hoping his mother might hear the words spoken from his heart.
Happy Christmas, Mama.
