Page 120 of The Twelve Months of Christmas
Molly and Reggie were the next ones to arrive. “We’re here,” she announced, beaming.
“Let the fun begin,” he added.
Rae and Will showed up, beaming like newlyweds should, followed by Sunny’s parents, then Ava and Paisley. Arianna came with her gang just as Travis showed up with the kids. Dylan smiling, Bella...not pouting. Progress. Let the fun begin.
The treasure hunt was a success, with almost everyone who participated finding something.
“This sucks, we didn’t find anything,” Rae complained, plopping onto a patio chair next to their mom.
“You found true love and just got a truckload of presents,” Mom informed her. “No whining.”
Which prompted Rae to teasingly stick out her tongue at Mom.
Everyone pitched in to string the lights, even Bella, when Travis said he needed her to advise him on how to arrange the ones on the rhododendrons he’d been assigned to decorate.
She wasn’t so inclined to help set out food on the picnic table on the lawn, and Sunny was shocked to see Jeannette actually scold her. “Your stepmother went to a lot of trouble. The least you can do is help her.”
Bella knew better than to argue with her grandmother, but she shot Sunny a sullen look before going into the kitchen to grab a bowl of chips.
Baby steps, Sunny told herself. Were they even stepping yet?
She decided she wasn’t going to let the teen sullens ruin her mood and fetched the bowl of three-bean salad from the fridge.
The table was laden with goodies, including a salad that Molly had brought featuring raspberries, Jell-O and whipping cream. It looked more like dessert if you asked Sunny, but hey, you could never have enough dessert at a party.
And, speaking of... “Okay, guys, wait till you taste my amazing Christmas-in-August dessert. Don’t anybody take another bite,” Sunny commanded. “You need to save room for this.”
It would be a hit with everyone, especially the kids. You couldn’t go wrong with ice cream. She hurried up the stairs, fetched her fabulous achievement from the freezer and then hurried back out and down the steps to the lawn.
“Hey, babe, let me get that,” Travis called, coming her way.
“I’ve got it,” she assured him.
Right before her foot missed the step. The dessert went flying and so did she.
24
Sunny was in a kaleidoscope of confusion. Her right ankle was on fire and she had stars in her eyes. Or maybe they were circling around her head like in some kind of cartoon. Like in a cartoon. Ha ha. Except she didn’t feel like laughing.
She was vaguely aware of Alden and Travis laying her gently on the pavement of the patio under the deck. “Careful of her neck,” Alden cautioned.
“Neck?” she repeated weakly.
“It’s okay, babe. We gotcha,” Travis said.
“I don’t know what happened.” One minute she was upright and now she was...down. And in agony.
Mom was on her phone. “Yes, that’s the address. Get someone here right away. She’s pregnant!”
“My head,” Sunny groaned.
“Good thing it’s hard,” said Travis. “You’re gonna be okay. The ambulance is on its way. What’s taking them so long?” he demanded.
How long had it been? An eternity. Everything was spinning.
“My ankle,” she groaned, then let out a screech as Alden examined it.
“Probably got a fracture,” he said. “Not to worry. You’ll look great in a boot.”
