Page 49 of Only You

Ana dragged on some tracksuit bottoms and an old jumper. No point in snagging good clothes on branches. Ana had found that out many years ago after she ruined her new jumper. Her dad had gone mad and taken away her favourite doll as punishment. She never made the same mistake again.

Andrew had clearly anticipated his daughter’s excitement, as the boxes of ornaments were already open in the sitting room. Ana had never seen so many decorations. Andrew saw Ana’s expression and grinned, “We’ve had several colour schemes.”

“Ah ha, that explains it,” Ana said, grinning at Olivia, who was jumping from one foot to the other. “Olivia, what colour scheme should we go for this year? Any suggestions?”

Olivia dived for the red and gold box. “This looks like the colours in the Christmas movie we watched the other night. I think this would be perfect.”

Ana had to admit the red and gold decorations were stunning. They would also go beautifully with the colour scheme in the sitting room. “Great choice,” Ana said as she began removing the decorations from the box. “Lights?”

Andrew grabbed another box that he had clearly labelled lights. They all sat on the floor, untangling the tangled light string. Andrew then got the ladder. The beauty of having a large Victorian house was the high ceilings allowed for extra tall Christmas trees. The downside was you needed a ladder to decorate the top and hang the lights.

Once the lights were on, Andrew plugged them in. To make sure Olivia was safe, Andrew then helped her hang the baubles Ana passed to her. Before long, the green tree was ablaze with colour and light. All three of them collapsed on the sofa and stared at the beautiful tree. Olivia clapped her hands. “That is the prettiest tree we’ve ever done, Daddy,” Olivia said, snuggling into his side.

“I think you’re right. Now it’s time for the rest of the decorations.”

Ana nearly fainted when Andrew pulled out more boxes. “You really weren’t kidding when you said you had thousands of decorations.”

Andrew gave her a sheepish grin, making him look ten years younger. “What can I say? I’m a sucker for Christmas.”

Ana found she loved the idea that he loved Christmas and wanted to make it special, especially for Olivia.

Unable to stop herself, Ana dived into the additional boxes, finding garlands for the mantle pieces and stairs, which were quickly attached. By the time the three of them had finished, the downstairs looked like a winter wonderland.

“Movie time!” Olivia said when the last of the boxes had been packed away.

“Pardon?” Ana said to Olivia.

“It’s Christmas movie time,” Olivia explained as if it was obvious.

Ana shot Andrew a questioning glance.

“Family tradition, the tree and decorations go up, and then we watch cheesy Christmas movies for the rest of the night. You are welcome to join us,” Andrew said. “You have definitely earned Christmas movie night.”

“Please, Ana, watch Christmas movies with us,” Olivia said, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the sitting room.

Ana laughed, “All right, as long as you’re sure it’s okay.”

Ana shot Andrew another look. His reply was to raise an eyebrow. Ana took that as do you really need to ask?

Andrew disappeared into the kitchen while Olivia set up the sitting room. This clearly was a family tradition. Andrew returned with a hot chocolate for Olivia and two glasses of red wine. Ana accepted the one he handed her and sat on the sofa’s far end. Olivia sat in the middle, patting the seat next to her for her dad. For the rest of the evening, Ana laughed and joked with Andrew and Olivia in this Dennison family Christmas tradition.

Chapter Thirty-four

Andrew

Before Andrew could blink, Christmas had arrived. He lay in bed, his hand behind his head, and stared at the ceiling. Today was going to be a crazy day. He was on call, so he couldn’t drink, which was probably a good thing. He needed to keep his wits about him. Since their Christmas shopping trip and Decoration Day, the household had fallen into the Christmas spirit, and Andrew had found himself swept along with it. The past two weeks had seen them play board games, watch more Christmas movies than he cared to think about, and then there was the laughter. The house had been full of it, more than Andrew could ever remember. Every night, he had returned to more tales of the day. If Andrew didn’t know better, he’d have said Ana was a Christmas Elf in disguise. It was as if she had come alive with the Christmas decorations, immersing herself and Olivia in all things Christmas. So much so that Andrew did not want to go to work. Instead, he wanted to stay home, play hooky with the girls, and be part of the fun.

Once school had broken up for the Christmas holiday, Ana had Olivia baking mince pies and jam tarts, and they had attempted and finally built a spectacular gingerbread house. Andrew smiled at the memory. It had shocked him when he’d come home to find both them and the kitchen covered in icing, sugar and flour. The kitchen island looked like they had detonated a flour bomb in the centre. Olivia had excitedly thrown herself at him, covering him in white powder too. It horrified Ana, her open mouth and shocked expression making him want to laugh, take her in his arms and swing her around. When Ana had apologised, he’d grabbed a handful of the white flour mix from the side and thrown it at Olivia. The kitchen descended into a flour-fight from that moment until everyone had collapsed into fits of giggles. It was then Olivia showed him their masterpiece. They had carefully crafted a gingerbread house, with boiled sweets as stain glass windows, a chocolate button and gingerbread roof and icing icicles framing the windows like snow. The whole thing was beautiful. Olivia explained how Ana had shown her how to do it, and she had copied it.

“It was hard,” Olivia said as Andrew fought to keep his attention focused on his daughter, not the woman inspiring her. “Ana helped me. The icing was difficult to pipe.”

“I think you’ve done an amazing job,” Andrew said, dropping a kiss on his daughter’s sweet-tasting head. “I think we need to get cleared up in here, and then you, young lady, need to get in the shower. You taste like a gingerbread house.”

Andrew wiped a smudge of icing from Olivia’s face, making her giggle.

Andrew turned to find that while Olivia had been showing him the house, Ana had already cleaned most of the kitchen. Her head was down as she focused on something welded to the kitchen sideboard. He smiled as he watched her determined expression, and a warmth spread through his chest.

“Why are you staring at Ana?” Olivia asked, snapping him out of his daze and bringing him back to the present.

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