Page 26 of Fake Christmas Date
There's another snort from the dining room, which I ignore. "Yes, I think you should wait until you're at least nineteen or twenty."
Miriam mutters “Tell her thirty” through another snort. Luckily, I don’t think Olivia catches that.
"How old were you when you started dating Daddy, Mommy?"
"Twenty-two."
Olivia points to my wedding rings, which she’s always loved. "How long did you date Daddy before you got em-gages?”
"Engaged. And it was about an hour and a half."
I don’t mean to say it. It just pops out.
There's a few seconds of silence before I hear a wild banshee shriek. "What?" Miriam leaps to her feet and sprints into the kitchen. “You’re joking, right?”
I’m already laughing so hard that Olivia is doing the same, though she doesn’t understand why. “It’s a long story, Miriam. Dylan and I will tell you over a glass or three of wine sometime.”
My gorgeous husband tiptoes into the kitchen to sneak up behind our daughter, setting down her spoon before grabbing her. She collapses into fresh fits of giggles as he swoops her around the room.
“What’s so funny, girls?” He looks over to see Miriam’s eyes wide with shock. "What?"
"I was joking that we’d only been dating for an hour and a half before we got engaged," I explain, grinning.
“Oh, right. That." He sets Olivia back on her chair. "I thought we weren't going to tell her for at least ten years,” he says out of the side of his mouth. “On our anniversary or something."
"Yeah, sorry, it just kind of…popped out."
Olivia looks around at all three of us, then gets ready to cover her ears. “Grammy, are you gonna do that loud thing again?"
Miriam just laughs. "No, honey. You're safe."
My mother-in-law sits back down, waving her wine glass at us. “I can tell you're not joking. Whatever bizarre story it is, I'll get it out of you one way or the other."
Olivia pokes her spoon back into the bowl, then turns to Dylan. "Does this have the right damp consismamcy?" He takes over, demonstrating how to hold the bowl steady with one hand to really fold the mixture together.
As I watch my sweet family, Miriam comes over to stand next to me, her shoulder pressing against mine as she leans close.
"They grow up in a blink," she whispers. "So fast you'll feel that you’ve forgotten more than you remember. But the holidays – those will stay with you forever."
My arm slides around her in a warm hug. "Good to know. Thank you."
"Thankyou. We’re going to train that girl up so that she can take over half of the baking, so we can focus on lounging a bit more every year."
"I'm loving your grandma wisdom."
She elbows me gently. "And later tonight, once you've had a glass of wine, you're going to explain the actual timeline of how you two started dating."
I burst out laughing. "Miriam, I swear… You are never going to believe me.”
It was extremely hard to read Mrs. Mackenzie's handwriting, but her potato salad recipe is available at the bottom of the welcome email of the Haley Travis email list - haleytravisromance.com
If you love the town of Holly Valley, you’ll be able to visit it again in:
Fake Christmas Girlfriend (with Dylan’s brother Josh)
Jacob: 3 Kings for Christmas
Andrew: 3 Kings for Christmas
