Page 77 of Holly, Jolly, and Oh So Naughty

Emma’s eyes light up and then she finally takes my hand. “Do you know the chicken?” she asks.

I glance at Lily, who merely laughs, and then I shake my head. “I don’t know the chicken.”

Emma rolls her eyes in a way that reminds me of Lily and drags me forward. We spend the next ten minutes learning the chicken dance, and then it’s showtime.

I don’t notice the decorations or the other parents filing into the hall. I don’t pay attention to the other children, the catering table, or even Lily in the stands.

For the entire dance, my sole focus is on Emma. We dance around the room together, sometimes in sync but mostly out of sync. Not that it matters. The smile on her face is delightful and it quells all the uncertainty in my heart. I have a lot to make up for concerning Emma and Lily, but this is a beautiful place to start.

I’ll take her to these dances until I’m eighty just to see her smile like this, and even if she decides she no longer wants to, I will remember this forever. We dance for what feels like hours until Emma’s heartwarming smiles and laughter melt into yawns and swaying. After our final loop of the dance hall, I scoop her up into my arms, and she nuzzles in as I carry her back to where Lily sits with her parents.

“Aww, look at her,” Lily coos. “She’s all tuckered out.”

“She’s not the only one,” I say as I pass Emma into Lily’s arms, then lightly kiss Lily’s cheek. “She was out almost as soon as I picked her up.”

As a group, we leave the hall, and as we head down the hallway toward the outer doors, Lily’s father holds out one hand to me.

I accept it with a flicker of a frown.

“It’s about time we saw this family complete,” he says with a smile, clasping my shoulders.

His words, and the warmth in his eyes, catch me by surprise. That may just be the most affection I’ve ever received from a parental person, and the fact that he really seems to mean it affects me more than I can say.

My heart clenches painfully at the absence of my own father, and I realize that with Lily accepting me into her life, I’m gaining more than just a girlfriend and a daughter. I’m gaining a full family.

“Thanks for having me,” I say as we step outside and come to a stop, Lily and her mother taking in the beautiful scene before us.

The entire parking lot is covered in thick snow, and fat snowflakes drift down from the sky. With the sparkling Christmas trees near the entrance, a swell of festive spirit surges through me and I place my arm around Lily’s waist.

“Merry Christmas.”

31

LILY

The days after Christmas come with a warmth they’ve never had before. Partly, it comes from having James around the house. He settles in immediately and does everything he can to help, and even though it’s only been a few days, I find myself incredibly grateful for him.

For the first time in six years, I’m able to take a bath undisturbed and sleep in. Emma wants to spend all her time with James, and I can’t blame her. We did sit her down and explain everything to her, as much as we could explain to a six-year-old, at least, and while she showed signs of confusion, she was mainly just happy to have James here and with us.

Questions will likely come later.

That strange week between Christmas and New Year’s when nothing feels real is made all the more dreamy by James’s determination to treat us at every turn. He lavishes us in gifts and affection, and I can tell he’s desperately trying to make up for his reaction and his absence. I don’t have the heart to put my foot down yet, though, and watching Emma have one of her best Christmases ever is the cherry on top.

A couple of days after the dance, Emma leaves with her grandparents to go ice skating, which gives me the time I need to start packing up some of the Christmas clutter that’s invading my home. I trash all the Christmas paper, throw out boxes, and take down a few of the decorations.

Then I tackle the tree.

I’m halfway through seeking out the end of the Christmas lights when the front door clicks.

“Hello?” James calls from the hallway.

“In here!”

James appears in the doorway with two coffees balanced in a carton in one hand and a bag in the other. “I brought coffee and strudel because I heard you were trying to tidy up, so I thought you would need the energy boost.”

“How thoughtful,” I reply with a smile. “Any chance you could hold this for me?” I offer out the tail end of the lights, and when James sets aside his gifts and takes it, I begin my investigation of every bulb as we slowly unwind the lights from the tree.

“Aren’t these supposed to be off when you remove them?” James asks.

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