Page 16 of Merrily You

I’d never been nervous to go to Holiday’s party before, but this year I was. and I knew why.

This was going to be a long night.

Chapter Nine

Holiday

I was just coming down the stairs when Danny walked in, looking gorgeous. Her hair was up, but she’d used her prettiest clip and had a button-up that fit her extremely well. Her pants were also tailored perfectly and for a moment, she made me forget how to walk down the stairs.

Our eyes met and her mouth parted as she stared at me. I’d put on the blue velvet dress and had curled my hair, pulling half of it up. My bangs were behaving miraculously well and I’d thought I looked pretty good in the mirror. But it was nothing to how I felt when Danny looked at me.

Eventually I managed to get down the stairs without tripping while Christmas music classics played in the background and more people piled into the house. Mom flitted around with a tray of hors d’oeuvres that I’d helped assemble earlier. Each year the party got bigger and I told her to hire caterers, but she always waved me off and said that she could handle everything herself. She could, but it took everything out of her, and she was always completely exhausted until New Year.

“Hey,” I said to Danny as she took off her peacoat. “Gimme that.” She handed me the coat and I grabbed it, forgetting why I’d wanted it in the first place. Oh, right. I was going to put it on my bed so it didn’t get lost in the pile of other coats that were already in the guest room.

“Be right back,” I said, scampering up the stairs to my room. I came back, a little breathless, to find Danny and my dad talking.

“Holiday, my love, can you give me a hand?” Mom asked as she swept around, distributing napkins.

“Yeah, of course.” I gave Danny a smile and then went to the kitchen to do my duty as a daughter.

I didn’t actually get to talk to Danny until nearly an hour later. She was situated in a corner of the living room with a drink and a plate of food and seemed fine being on her own.

I opened my mouth to say something to her, but then the volume on the music went down and someone clinked silverware against a glass to get everyone’s attention. I turned around to find Mom and Dad standing on the stairs, ready to make their annual toast.

“Thank you all for coming to our little shindig,” Mom said, giggling. She was glowing in a sparkly gold dress, her arm around Dad. They really were adorable.

“Here’s to a Merry Christmas for all and to a Happy New Year. Santé!” Our ancestors on my mom’s side were French Canadian, so she used that word every year.

“Santé!” Everyone said, raising their glasses. I didn’t have one, so I just sort of raised my hand pretending I did.

“Share mine,” Danny said, leaning close to me. She motioned to her glass and I closed my fingers around hers. They were warm. The two of us raised the glass and then didn’t know what to do.

“Guess we should both drink?” I asked.

“You first.” Still both clasping the glass, we tilted it toward my mouth and I sipped, managing not to spill any before letting Danny take a drink as well.

“There. No bad luck,” Danny said, and I let go of her hand, my fingers zinging with the prolonged contact.

“I think we should probably tell my parents about us now. Since she made the toast and everything.” Unlike with Danny’s family, I wasn’t going to stand up on the stairs and address the whole room. We could share with my parents and then let the word spread organically.

Danny nodded. “Sure.” She didn’t sound enthusiastic, but I grabbed her hand and dragged her across the room where Mom was arranging cookies on one of the extra tables she kept around just for this party.

“Mom?” I asked, tapping her shoulder.

“Yes, what is it?” she turned, giving me a smile that was tight. It was easy to see the stress around her eyes, but she was in her element. Mom loved hosting this party even though it took so much out of her.

“Um, where’s Dad?” I looked around and found him laughing with one of his brothers. I caught his eye and motioned for him to come over. He excused himself and joined us, putting his arm around Mom and kissing her cheek.

“So, Danny and I just wanted to tell you that, um, we’re together.” I should have rehearsed a speech or something, but I hadn’t.

I’d kept her hand in mine when we’d walked over and now I held up our joined fingers as evidence.

“Oh, Holiday!” Mom clasped her hands together. Her eyes were a little misty as she hugged us both.

“Congratulations. This is wonderful news. We’re happy for you both. Daniella, you’ve always been part of our family,” Dad said, and his eyes were a little damp too. Dad really did adoreDanny. They’d always had a connection that I’d teased her a few times about.

“We’re very happy,” I said. “Aren’t we, babe?” I asked Danny because she hadn’t said anything.

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