Page 62 of Home for Christmas in July

“Sit,” Merry instructs taking the chair that used to be her mom’s—the one closest to the kitchen, in case she needed to run out to check on a dish.

The others have left two chairs together at the far end of the table. Nick pulls one out for me, and I sit down next to Sage. He takes the chair on the end and reaches for my hand under the table.

“Everything looks delicious,” I tell Merry.

She beams. “Let’s dig in.”

We pass the dishes family-style. Once everyone has a mound of mac-and-cheese and a salad, Nick raises his wine glass.

“Thank you to my amazing daughters for taking charge of the open house. You were right, and I was wrong to want to cancel. And thank you to the best nieces a guy could ask for. You three came through for us, and that means a lot.”

They chorus ‘hear, hear’ and clink glasses.

When the table falls silent, I clear my throat. “I also want to thank you for letting me crash your party.”

Holly turns to me, dead serious, and says, “Crash the party? Aren’t you our new mom?”

I gape at her.

After a moment, she burst out laughing. “I’m kidding, Noelle. Oh, you should have seen your face.”

“Stop it,” her father admonishes her through his own laughter. Then he clears his throat. “But you might as well know, Noelle and I are …” He throws me a look. “Dating?”

“Sure. Dating.”

“Duh.”

I look at Ivy. “Duh?”

She nods. “It might not have been obvious to you two, but to anyone with a brain, this was inevitable.”

Her sisters nod vigorously.

Thyme interjects, “I mean, we’ve only been here since Tuesday, andweknew.”

Oh.

“We’re all happy for you—for both of you,” Merry assures me. “Now, eat before the food gets cold.”

“Don’t have to ask me twice,” I tell her, digging in.

The meal passes quickly. We go around the table saying three things. Mine are that I’m grateful for their kindness and love (squeezing Nick’s hand under the table as I say this), I regret that I didn’t put the pieces together about Dante sooner, and I’m going to get a good night’s sleep so I can be helpful at the open house tomorrow.

When the food is gone, and everyone has ruefully agreed we’re too full for one of Merry’s desserts, Nick says, “A quick word about tomorrow before you all scatter.”

They fall silent and turn to their dad.

“We want our guests to have a memorable, wonderful experience, like always. But we need to be alert. Dante Bianchi is a threat to Noelle. We have to take that seriously. So if you see anyone or anything that looks out of place, let me know right away. Understand?”

They nod in unison.

Rosemary holds up a finger.

“Yes?”

“Dave called me right before dinner. He said Bianchi has an active European Arrest Warrant in the system for kidnapping. So, basically, the entire Western Hemisphere is under a BOLO notice on him.”

“BOLO?” Merry asks.

---