Page 73 of Holly, Jolly, and Oh So Naughty

“Both of you.”

“Okay!” Emma grins and her rosy-red nose scrunches up as she sniffles.

“Remember that I love you,” Amelia says, and she locks eyes with me. “And that I support you no matter what.”

The uncertainty in my chest grows heavy, and I frown at Amelia. “What do you mean? You’re kind of starting to worry me.”

“Trust me,” is all Amelia says, and she takes my hand, squeezing gently. “Okay?”

“Okay.” I nod, and yet the uncertainty still swarms my gut like a flutter of heavy-winged butterflies. Emma is clueless and resumes her attempts to place a boot print on every untouched patch of snow, few as they are.

I have more to ask Amelia, but suddenly, she speeds up her walking, and distance forms between us. She doesn’t stop until she reaches the crosswalk, and then she turns to me with the widest smile on her face.

“I love you, Lily. You know that, right?” she says.

“Of course I do. I love you too. Amelia, what is it because you’re…”

My words die in my throat as I reach the crosswalk and the Town Square becomes visible.

It’s been beautiful since the day everyone came together and started decorating it, but something is different.

A warm orange glow rises from all of the shops and buildings surrounding the square, creating an oval of amber light that sweeps across the town square and frames the central gazebo.The gazebo is covered in white lights that subtly flash and pulse in time to soft, classical music drifting through the air.

Every tree is covered in blue, red, and green lights that reflect off the silver tinsel winding across the branches. Several fake snowmen are covered in glitter that makes them sparkle with the slightest movement from me. The scents of chocolate, ginger, and cinnamon fill the air, and I’m distantly aware that there are no people around, which is strange for this time of night.

But all of that pales in comparison to what is in the middle of the town square.

A long string of new golden lights stretches from one tree to another, twinkling in the darkness like a scattering of stars fell from the heavens and lined up just for me.

“Look, Mommy!” Emma gasps, pointing at the lights. Her eyes are so wide that they reflect the sparkles, and my heart begins to race. The lights above are carefully arranged to spell out a phrase I never could have imagined.

Will you be my family?

Below the lights, looking incredibly nervous while holding a single rose, stands James.

“It’s James!” Before I can stop her, Emma twists out of my grip and sprints across the crosswalk toward the town square. She runs until she crashes headlong into James, who ducks to catch her with a laugh.

James is here.

He’shere.

Part of me honestly thought I would never see him again, yet he stands there like something out of a dream and I have no idea what to say. A hand presses gently into the small of my back, urging me forward, and I obey because I have no idea what else to do.

All I can think about is our last argument and the heartbreaking realization that he was abandoning me once again. Yet here he stands.

As I get closer, I can decipher the hopeful look in his eyes. When I reach the snow-covered grass in front of him, he smiles shakily and begins to speak.

“Lily. I know I have no right to ask this but please, give me two minutes to say what I want to say and then, whatever you want to do after that, I will do it.”

Emma skips back to me with the biggest grin on her face, so I nod because I don’t trust myself to speak. A commotion of emotions clashes together inside me—anger that he left and then didn’t talk to me for two days, hurt that he didn’t believe me about his mother, hope that seeing him again could mean he wants to stay, and confusion at the lights.

What the hell is going on?

“I am so deeply sorry for walking out the other night. I have no excuse other than I was completely stunned by what you told me, and it didn’t fit with what I knew at the time. It doesn’t excuse what I did, but I hope it helps you understand why I had to get away.”

As he talks, clouds of condensation curl past his lips and spiral up to the sparkling lights above.

“I went back to the city and confronted my mother. I needed to hear it from her directly because Lily, you have to believe me. I hadnoidea that you were pregnant, or that you even tried to reach out. I thought we had gone our separate ways and I wanted to respect that. But my mother finally told me the truth.”

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