Page 46 of Three Days of Holiday

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into a wedding on Christmas Eve. Like I didn’t already have an ulcer.”

“Holy crap, dude. Get a grip. You sound like a ninety-year-old man,” Hope said for me since she wouldn’t let me open my mouth and ruin my makeup.

Holston resumed his pacing, and as soon as Hope let go of my mouth, I responded. “It wasn’t that much more work.” I stuck out my tongue and Hope frowned. When Will proposed in August, we knew we wanted to get married as quickly as possible.

I thought maybe we’d skip off to Hawaii and elope, but when my mother’s eyes widened and she dramatically wiped a tear before going on about how she’d miss her eldest daughter’s wedding, that snuffed out the idea.

Will and I didn’t want to waste time, and when you married in Pelican Bay, a wedding became a crazy lifetime affair, so we opted for Christmas Eve to celebrate our first year as a couple. We had a turbulent start, but I wouldn’t change a single second of it.

Holston blanched at my comment and rolled his eyes before leaving Hope and me alone as he stormed out from behind the cardboard, mumbling something about sisters.

I settled back into the chair and closed my eyes, letting Hope rub shadow over my lids. Holston could complain all he wanted but, in truth there hadn’t been that much more work. We used the decorations from the Santa’s workshop setup and brought in a few more flowers.

It’d be our first practice for the weddings we’d be hosting now that we were the premier orchard destination in Maine.

The only work left now was my three brothers moving chairs into their proper locations, and with lessthan fifty guests, it wouldn’t take them long. Besides, what was the point of having three brothers if you didn’t use them to do a little manual labor for you occasionally?

“Don’t worry about Holston,” Hope said, sensing my distress as she used a highlighting marker on the tip of my nose and blended it in. “He likes to worry about everything because he wants your day to be special. Plus, you know that thing with Hale and the county inspector has him flustered.”

“I know, but he really is going to give himself an ulcer if he doesn’t relax. Things on the farm are going well, and he needs to learn to sit back and enjoy the ride.”

Hope scoffed. “Yeah, you can be the one to tell him. Really, you’re just lucky Dad can change fast or you’d end up having Santa walk you down the aisle.”

I giggled at the thought of my father in his big red suit looping his arm through mine and walking me down to the aisle to meet the pastor. I bet Will’s father would absolutely get a kick out of that… not.

“Okay, you’re ready to go,” Hope said, standing up from her haunches and giving me one last good look. She handed me a small mirror, and I checked out the makeup. It was a light touch like I asked her. I nodded once in thanks and then took a deep breath, my stomach doing the little flip-flop thing as the time got closer.

Soon I would be Mrs. William Causebay. A Causebay married into the Halliday family. Every time my father looked at the wedding invitation, he shook his head and mumbled under his breath. He and Hale had eventually learned to like Will, but the name thing was a constant conversation starter.

At Thanksgiving dinner, my brothers even brought upthe suggestion that Will change his name to Halliday rather than me becoming a Causebay. Will took it in stride, but I was pretty sure my brothers were not kidding.

“Are you ready for Dad?” Haden asked, peeking his head behind the cardboard long enough so he made sure I heard him.

“She’s ready,” Hope called back and helped me fix the bottom of my long, white wedding dress. The bottom was going to be dirty because we didn’t have many ways to clean up a barn floor, especially one with people walking on it all day, but I didn’t care.

In a few minutes I’d be Mrs. William Causebay.

And that was the most important thing.

The dress sparkled as the lights in the barn hit the different beads encompassing the top. It reminded me of the fake snow and starlight from the night Will and I made the first step in our relationship and survived an attack from his ex-girlfriend. Starlight and snowflakes would always have a special place in my heart. Right next to him.

Holly looped an arm through Will’s friend Tanner’s arm and led the charge down the aisle as my brothers along with Will’s old assistant Jack stood behind Will next to the pastor. Each of the three Halliday men wore stern expressions, ready to take out anyone or anything who might cause any trouble.

My dad waited for the special music to start and then we—him wearing a fitted gray suit in place of the Santa costume—began our march to the aisle’s end. I stared at Will with an excited grin, ready to start our next chapter.

“I’m glad you found your forever, pumpkin,” myfather said, patting my hand twice. “Will is a good guy, despite his last name.”

And with the final twinkle in his eye just like you expected from the yearly Santa, he squeezed my hand once more and then handed me off to Will to begin the rest of our forever.

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