Page 36 of Masked Indulgence
I wiped my eye with the back of my hand. “I’m afraid so. I think I’ve made a newfriend.”
He nodded and went back to pulling decorations out of the boxes. “Good. That girl’s like a sister to me. She’s a little on the tomboy side and doesn’t like to hang with girls much. She’s kind of rough and tumble. That’s how come she and I ended up becoming such good friends. I never want you to be jealous of her. There’s no reason to. I hope you can look at her like you’ll look at any of my family, because she’s as close to me as theyare.”
I came up behind him, hugging him. “I think she made a great gesture and I will accept her for who she is. I’m just so happy we can all get along. I don’t want to spoil one thing in our life. I only want to enhanceit.”
He turned around, wrapping his arms around me. A sweet kiss told me he was happy with things and that always seemed to make mehappy.
I knew the odds were stacked against us. I knew most people thought we’d never make it. But with that against us, I still wanted to see if we could beat thoseodds.
I wondered if Nix thought that waytoo.
Mona was in the kitchen, making us something for a special Christmas Eve dinner. I’d told her in secret that I wanted her to take the entire day of Christmas off. I’d been gathering recipes from the Internet and watching cooking videos all week long. I’d even made a trip to the store to buy all the ingredients I’d need to make Nix a proper Christmas dinner of ham, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and homemaderolls.
Nix and I managed to get the tree into its stand and were taking our time placing the ornaments on the tree. Nix told me where each and every one of them came from. His family was huge, and I had to admit that I was intimidated about meeting themall.
“How am I going to remember all of their names, babe?” I asked as I placed a pale blue satin ball on the tree. It had a large yellow stain on it and he told me that was from when it had fallen in a glass of his Aunt Rose’s iced tea as she took the ornaments down on her very lastChristmas.
“You shouldn’t worry about that.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “Half the time my mother can’t even remember her own kids’ names. She’ll go through the gambit of family names then end up shouting,‘You know who you are and why I’m calling you,dammit!’”
I laughed as he tickled my ribs. “Nix!” I wiggled to get away from him. “You’re gonna make mepee!”
He stopped and pulled me in for a kiss. As our tongues twirled, I thought I’d never had such a memorable Christmas. He’d brought things to my life I’d had no idea I’d beenmissing.
Mona popped out of the kitchen. “The formal dining room awaits your arrival, you two. And I’ll be on my way. You can just toss the dishes in the dishwasher when you’re done. I’ll tend to them when I comeback.”
Nix took my hand as I called out, “Thank you, Mona. You have a MerryChristmas.”
“You too. Bye now,” Mona called back just before she slipped out the garagedoor.
A small squeeze to my hand had me looking at Nix to find his green eyes sparkling at me. “Have I told you that you look beautifultonight?”
A blush stained my cheeks. He made me feel so out of sorts when he looked at me that way and said things like that to me. “No, you haven’t said a thing about that.” I ducked my headshyly.
He lifted it with one finger and kissed me softly. “You’re very beautiful all the time, but tonight even more so,somehow.”
“You’re very handsome tonight too.” I ran my hand over his light green sweater. “This brings out the color of youreyes.”
I’d put on a red dress in honor of the occasion. He ran his fingers over my shoulder. “Red always looks good onyou.”
We made our way to the formal dining room, and there we found candles lighting up a gorgeous table that looked like something out of amagazine.
Two gold domes covered our plates, and sparkling water glistened in wine glasses next to them. “Mona is amazing,” Iwhispered.
How can I ever top this when I make the meal forChristmas?
But all that worry went out of my head as Nix helped me into a chair and took the one at the head of the table. We sat there, looking at everything, and then he took my hand. “You know, back home my daddy says a prayer before we eat on special occasions. I suppose as we’ll be parents from now on, we should start doing thattoo.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know any prayers. You go forit.”
He bowed his head and so did I as he said, “Our father in Heaven, please bless this food that we’re so thankful for. And please bless our little baby that we’re also thankful for.” He stopped and cleared his throat. “And bless this woman at my side as she’s made this all possible. Without her, I’d be lost.Amen.”
When I looked up at him, I saw unshed tears shimmering in his eyes. I ran my hand over his beard. “You’d belost?”
He nodded and leaned over to kiss me. “You’re myhero.”
I gulped and tried not to start bawling. “You’remine.”
He kissed me again, and I felt like I was floating on air. Would this be the right time to admit my love forhim?
