Page 143 of There's Something about Merry

“Oh, you two look wonderful. Now get up there. It’s going to start in a few minutes.”

Clark climbed up first and took Merry’s hand, leading her across the trailer bed to the sleigh. Clark caught sight of his brother scrunched in one of the wooden boxes in the front of the sleigh and waved. Sam flipped him off in return.

“Sam!” Victoria barked. “There are children present.”

Clark snort laughed as he climbed into the sleigh next to Merry. She covered them with a blanket and picked up a thermos from the floor. “The parade lasts a little over an hour, so Mom made us some of her special hot chocolate.” She took off the lid and handed it to him.

He took a swig and cocked his head. “Is that…coconut?”

“Yeah, she puts rum in it. Just enough to keep us warm.”

He took the cap from her and screwed it back into place. “This is my first time riding in the parade. You’ll have to tell me what to do.”

“Pretend you’re Santa. Wave to the crowd. Stroke your beard. They can only see us from the waist up, and fair warning, the only songs that play on this float have to do with Santa and Christmas trees, so it will wear thin. Oh, your gloves. Are they in your pocket?”

Clark stuck a hand in and pulled out black leather gloves. Merry wore white ones and when he took her hand, he wasn’t happy that he couldn’t feel her warm skin on his.

The sound of the mayor’s voice in the distance announced the start of the parade and Clark waited to move, but the float sat still.

“Why aren’t we moving?”

“There’s a lot of floats and we’ll be going maybe five miles an hour. It takes a while. I do want to tell you that I’m proud of how you handled things with Patrice. How do you feel?”

“Like I’m ready to put a lot of things behind me and concentrate on all the good in my life.”

“Like Jace and Sam?”

“Are you fishing?” he teased.

“I am not. I am waiting patiently.”

Clark released her hand to cup her cheek. “And you. Always you, Merry.”

She met his kiss and he slid his hand behind her neck, cradling it as he ignored the irritating whiskers of the beard above his upper lip and got lost in the taste of the woman he loved.

After twenty-seven years, he’d fallen in love for the very first time with Merry Winters and he planned to do everything he could to make sure she was the one he spent the rest of his life with.

Something bonked him over the head and he broke away with a startled “Hey!”

Holly stood over them with a three-foot-long candy cane, smirking. “Mom says stop making out. There are kids.”

“I know there are kids, but Santa should be allowed to kiss his wife!” Clark laughed.

“Santa doesn’t use his tongue on Mrs. Claus.” Holly giggled.

“This one does,” Merry quipped, her face turning red.

Holly waved the candy cane at them. “Don’t make me come back here.”

As Holly swished back to her box, Clark grumbled, “Did I just get kiss-blocked by an angry elf wielding a candy cane?”

“I think you did.”

“Your sister is getting coal for Christmas.”

The float rolled forward slowly and the speakers blared with “Up on the Housetop”. It was so loud that Clark could barely hear himself think. When they came up on the start of the crowd, Holly and Sam tossed handfuls of candy. Clark waved at all the excited kids, but after ten minutes, his arm ached from holding it up.

Merry took a discreet sip of hot cocoa and leaned over. “Having fun?”

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