Her Christmas Romance Surprise

by Kenna Shaw Reed

“And my gift?” Pia’s fingers were now clenched around the small box.

  “You know what it is, and Craig’s email explains what it meant. What you mean. But I don’t want you to open it, yet.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because the moment you open it, I’ll be waiting for a sign. Whether you’re gonna sell it or put it on your right hand. After yesterday, I’ve given up on it ever gracing your left. Open it when you get home to Sydney. That way, I’ll never know.”

  “What you don’t know can’t hurt you?” Pia smiled. “Almost like that ultimatum from your parents.”

  “Look, I’m going to have a shower, get ready for lunch. What time are your parents expecting you?”

  “Any time after ten.”

  Pia

  While Kade showered alone, the box burned in my hand. Yet again, Kade left his laptop open and screen unlocked. Even if it went blank, I now knew the password, and in any case, this latest email didn’t need an explanation.

  Damn him.

  Twenty-four hours ago, I had been packing up my desk for the Christmas break. Looking forward to leaving Sydney for the man I didn’t know how not to love.

  “Yuck!” My bare foot squelched on a drip of egg on the tiled floor. No longer stifling a giggle, I thought back to Kade offering me a plate of raw eggs. Seriously, what man would encourage me to smash eggs over his head to make a point.

  A man who loved to laugh as hard as he loved.

  Who loved with an intensity I never dreamed could exist for me. I never asked for Declan’s attention, but Kade—an unexpected treasure.

  Was it real?

  Mum: Merry Christmas. Are we going to know his name?

  Pia: Be there soon. Merry Christmas.

  I packed up the Christmas presents for my family in large calico bags and set them next to Kade’s car. At least he knew everyone at lunch, and I could hang around in his garden until it was time to go.

  Unless we didn’t.

  What if the email from Craig was legit? It arrived before Declan stormed in on us, and if the email had come to the inbox instead of spam, would things have been different if Kade showed me yesterday? Or even last night?

  “Ready?”

  I’d been plucking weeds from around the herb garden when Kade joined me, wincing in the sun but ignoring the dark glasses on his head. Making sure I could see his eyes. Sexier than I could have hoped for in his dark shorts and a white shirt that showed off not only his tan but every muscle that had held me during the night. Dark hair pulled back into a man bun I never appreciated until worn by Kade. Like the three-day growth.

  “No, but let’s do it anyway.”

  Kade’s farm was half an hour outside town while my parents still lived in my childhood home, a block away from the high school. Their farm the closest to town. Staring out of the window while Kade drove, I couldn’t ignore the destruction from four years of drought. Normally green fields were brown and brittle. Normally flourishing farmland devoid of stock. At least everyone would be wanting to moan about the lack of rain, not my love life.

  Still, the small box burned in my handbag. I should have left it in the cottage and even my mental excuse of a possible break-in seemed weak.

  Kade slowed down to pull into my driveway. The familiar white gate needed painting and the squeaky hinges could do with a little TLC. Still, he didn’t seem to notice or mind as we drove the last hundred metres up to the house. Half a dozen other cars already had prime position on our acre block, and I shrugged when Kade couldn’t find a spare place in the shade.

  As he killed the engine, I wanted to flee inside, find comfort in my father’s arms and have him reassure me that my shattered heart could be repaired, and no one would blame me for dying a spinster.

  Except, Kade locked us inside the car. The moment he killed the air conditioning along with the engine, my sundress started to stick to my body with the rising heat. The idea that people were making snowmen on the other side of the world seemed surreal in the Australian sun.

  I didn’t want to talk about the weather, or farming or even tomorrow. But I couldn’t resist turning to Kade, to see his face and wish we could have had our happily ever after.

  “What?”

  Kade

  No matter that her parents could probably see us and were already making assumptions, I couldn’t let Pia go inside before she knew how I felt.

  Make her feel loved.

  Easy for grandma to say, but almost impossible for me to prove. Yes, I’d said it once in the heat of the moment, but either she didn’t hear or didn’t care.

  “What?” Pia asked again to my silence.

  The words were at the tip of my tongue, but just like last night, they stumbled in the order. I wanted to tell her not just that I loved her but for how long. An impossible task—I couldn’t remember a time knowing Pia without loving her.

  Still, she didn’t try the door handle again, or ask me to unlock the door so she could escape. So, we sat as the car sweltered in the rising sun. Beads of sweat forming on her chest and I could feel the stench rising in my armpits while I searched for the most important not-a-negotiation of my life. We couldn’t stay here forever.

  “Is this real?” Pia finally broke the silence with a question I could answer.

  “As real as you want to make it.” I dared to hope.

  “This is insane.” Pia still sounded disbelieving, and I couldn’t blame her. A little over a week ago, she was Miss M and I was K.

  “Yep. Who’d have thought a fake date could turn out this way.”

  “You know my family.”

  “And you know my brother.”

  “We’ve only known each other one week.”

  “Pia, we’ve known each other for most of our lives.”

  When she stopped looking towards me, the weight of what we could have had, but lost became unwieldy. Maybe with time, Pia would agree to become friends, but right now, her stubbornness and lack of trust in me won.

  Sighing, I gave up thinking that keeping her trapped inside the stifling car would change her mind. Unlocking the door, I was grateful that collecting the bags of gifts at least gave me an excuse not to reach out for her hand. Or at least it stopped her from rejecting me in full view of her family.

  Neither of us could miss the plastic mistletoe positioned above the front door. Or the bottle brush version above the doorframe on the verandah. If only things had been different, I sighed again wishing I believed in a next year and second chances.

  Pia held back, allowing me to go ahead. I guess this was harder on her than me. Her parents would be filled with as much hope as I had yesterday, only to be disappointed when our fake date was exposed.

  “Wait!” Pia cried as my knuckles reached for the door.

  “What?” I turned, hoping she hadn’t changed her mind about lunch. It would be my pleasure for her parents to see me in love with their daughter. Reality could bite me on the ass tomorrow.

  “It only means something if you put it on.” I looked down as Pia opened her hand to show the box. Fingers trembling, she unwrapped the box, discarding paper while holding my gaze. “If it means anything, you have to put it on.”

  I dared to hope. To dream. To think of a future with Pia Reiss, nee Morgan by my side. “Are you sure?”

  “You have to ask.”

  No, I didn’t.

  Not when a Christmas kiss could speak when my words, once again, failed.

  By the time her father opened the door, my ring was on Pia’s left hand and the smile on her face was the only answer I needed.

  “Daddy, I think you know my fiancé, Kade?”

  Christmas Lunch

  Pia

  It all happened so fast.

  Kade’s ring was barely on my finger before dad grabbed him in for a hug that seemed to go on forever. Mum and my sister had been watching us from the front window. Taking bets on whether Kade was about to chicken out from coming inside, or whether I couldn’t face my family with the wrong brot
her.

  Things I wasn’t told until my fifteen-year-old sister was tipsy having stolen too many sips of celebratory fruit punch.

  The moment dad released Kade to turn to me, his actual daughter, mum was on the phone in tears. Insisting Beth Reiss pack up her Christmas lunch and come on over. To celebrate the joining of their families. Something our mothers had always prayed for. Even though Kade’s and my pairing had surprised my parents, at least Beth would now set them straight.

  It had always been Kade and me.

  From shared lunch boxes when I stayed at his house. From sharing bait when we all went fishing. Even to my stolen glances whenever he stripped off to go swimming in the local dam with the other guys.

  “Why didn’t you tell me. I’m your sister.” Janine seemed the most offended by my secret.

  “There wasn’t anything to tell, until there was.”

  “But you’ve known him for like, forever. How could you not have told me you liked him?”

  How could I tell my sister that she was still only a child when I went away for university. I wasn’t going to tell her my biggest secret in case she blabbed it to mum and dad. By the time Janine got old enough to tell, I didn’t think it mattered anymore. I thought Kade had moved on and eventually, I’d do the same.

  “You know now. I was waiting until you’d be old enough to be my bridesmaid instead of flower girl.” I hugged her tightly.

  “Can I pick my own dress?”

  “We can style the whole wedding around your dress, if that’s what you want.”

  “As long as Pip Squeak doesn’t take too long to make her choice.” Kade joined us, swinging Janine around to her squeals of delight at her old nick name. Not that she let anyone other than Kade still use it. “I’m willing to wait for a September wedding, but I’d rather Easter with the autumn leaves.”

  We hadn’t been engaged long enough to discuss dates, and all of a sudden my fiancé, mother and sister were trading ideas to my aunt’s nodding head.

  “Should I even ask how long the two of you have been dating, or why you didn’t think to ask me first?” Dad asked us, breaking in over the wedding discussions.

  “Sir, technically, I gave Pia a ring. She just assumed it meant what it did.”

  “Kade!” I mock punched his arm. “Daddy, what he meant to say—”

  “I think I understand. Well, Kade I guess the two of you better come inside and face the music.”

  Until then, I hadn’t realized we still hadn’t made it through the foyer into the front living room. Not that there was much room between the enormous Christmas tree, decorated with bottle brush and tinsel, presents and almost one hundred tiny reindeer that my mother had collected over the years.

  “Engaged! We didn’t even know you were dating!” Great Aunty Flo hugged me to her floral print dress, enveloping me in wafts of her Christmas baking. “Congratulations, my dear. He’s from a good family.”

  I smiled my thanks, thanking my lucky stars no one knew that K and M met online. That if it hadn’t been for my crazy pact, we would still be living our single lives, oblivious to our secret crushes.

  A story for our children?

  No, grandchildren!

  “Where is she!” I heard Kade’s mother rushing through the unlocked front door before I saw her. Barreling her way past her son, my mother, all to get to me. “Pia. I couldn’t be happier. Welcome to the family.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Reiss.” No matter how many times she’d asked, I could never bring myself to call her Beth like the rest of Kade and Declan’s friends.

  “You’ll be a Mrs. Reiss yourself soon. I can’t tell you how happy I was when Declan told me that you and Kade were finally together. I was getting worried that son of mine would never man up and tell you how he felt.”

  “Would have been nice if you’d told me,” Keith Reiss murmured, brushing my hair with a kiss before grabbing his son’s hand. “Or you.”

  “We should have told you, but things happened so fast.” Kade pulled my left hand to his lips. Letting the collective ohhs, and aahhs echo around us before kissing the solitaire diamond settled in a thin white gold band. Perfect in its simplicity, unlike the complicated couple it belonged to.

  Fast. Yes, might have taken years to find each other, days to meet, but only hours to fall in love. I knew from Kade’s expression that he was also thinking how quickly we’d rushed home from the café. Our matching blushes inspiring a howl of laughter from approving family. “I mean, sir ...” Kade pretended to hide behind me as my father tried to continue his mock indignation. Instead, he started handing around plastic champagne glasses.

  “If you’d given us more time before deciding to spring an engagement on us, we’d have got out the good glasses and even bought some expensive champagne. But, if you want to toast you’ll have to make do with either imported beer or thank your lucky stars Gail made up a barrel of her Christmas punch.”

  My sister ladled the fruit punch into glasses. Little pieces of peach and pineapple with whatever combination of wine and fruit juices my mother had thrown together. No one seemed to care. The front room of my small childhood home was crammed with our families wanting to be the first to toast to Kade and I.

  “If you don’t mind, I’d like to say something.” The dull tapping together of plastic glasses didn’t have the same finesse as glass, but Declan’s booming voice was enough to command silence. I looked to Kade, the slight color from Declan’s fist against jaw was more pronounced this morning. Not that either of us were keen to explain.

  Kade hadn’t had a chance to tell Declan about his lawyer’s email. There had barely been enough time for us to get over our own fight, without worrying about what it meant to Declan or their parents. “Mate, we should talk,” Kade hissed, as space cleared. No one stood between the brothers, Declan shaking off his father’s calming hand.

  “Yep, we should talk. But I’ve got a few things to say first.”

  Declan’s eyes found mine and the anger from yesterday had gone. Instead, he was back to being my best friend and big brother. The man he’d always been while I’d been waiting for his brother to become more. “Pia Morgan. I don’t feel like I need to welcome you to the family because it’s like you’ve always been part of us.”

  My family laughed nervously, while Beth Reiss squeezed her husband’s hand. “Mum and dad knew you’d be a Reiss one day and I swear they’ve already engraved your name on the family tree.”

  Kade remained frozen at my side. Unwilling to accept Declan’s gesture, yet. Not with his brother’s anger and jealousy from yesterday still feeling so raw. With the rush of phone calls inviting the Reiss’ to lunch, it hadn’t occurred to me whether Declan would turn up, or what he’d say.

  We had underestimated Declan.

  “As some of you have known, I always thought it would be me.”

  “Dec, please,” I started before he reached over and closed my lips with his finger.

  “You made the right choice. I’m never gonna love a woman more than I love the land. I’m never gonna look at you the way Kade does, but if he ever stops,” Declan turned to Kade, joking but not joking, “You know where to find me.”

  “Over my dead body.” Kade snorted. More from brotherly rivalry rather than yesterday’s spite.

  “That can be arranged, but now I’ve seen what a happy and in love Pia looks like, I’m not going to be the bastard to knock off her fiancé just so I can be the best man.”

  “Was that a request?” Kade hadn’t moved but I felt his body soften. Yesterday, they’d been angry rivals. For me, the land, their parents’ acceptance. Today, they were back being brothers.

  “For what?”

  “To be my best man. Stand next to me and make sure I don’t stuff up the wedding.”

  “Isn’t one of the jobs of the best man to stand in for the groom if he doesn’t turn up?” Declan teased to the tentative laughs of our families.

  “I’ll turn up.” Kade turned to me. “I didn’t wait s
o bloody long for Pia to notice me just to stumble at the last hurdle.”

  “You think getting married is the last hurdle?” My father joked from the back of the room. “Mate, you don’t know a thing about being married.”

  “Or how stubborn my sister can be. Remember, I shared a bathroom with her.” My little sister piped up.

  “The point is, I’m getting married and I need my brother to be the best man. That is, if he wants the job.”

  To my shock, Kade pulled out a sheet of paper from his back pocket and handed it over to Declan. “The job specs are all there. Everything you want to know is there.”

  I held my breath. There could only be one piece of paper that Kade would be so careful in describing. The email from his lawyer. But surely, Declan would want to see the details of the deed?

  Declan glanced down, his eyes flickering across the lines. He looked up at me, then back at the paper. “This for real?”

  “Look at the date and time stamp.”

  “I did.”

  “So, will you be my best man?”

  “No.”

  Kade recoiled as his mother gasped and father grabbed his shoulder to stop his sons from making Christmas more memorable than it already would be. I wanted to drag Declan away, explain once again why it had always been Kade.

  My fiancé tried to push me behind him when Declan came towards us. Eyes back to being linked with mine. “I can’t give Pia away, because she was never mine. At least not in that way. We’ve all been friends for so long, and in some crazy way, it seems even right that our families get to be joined together.”

  “Then what’s your problem?” Kade sneered, still trying to protect me. But the moment before Declan smiled, I knew.

  “I can’t marry you and be your best man. If the two of you can wait until I get my celebrant licence, then I want to be the one standing up there and saying the words.”

  “You want to marry us?” Kade wasn’t the only one in shock, but his cry was louder than my, “Yes.”

  “Unless you’d prefer to get married by a stranger.” Declan took my hand. “Pia Morgan, since you won’t marry me, will you at least let me marry you ... to my brother.”