The Christmas Cottage

by Samantha Chase

  Turning back to Ava, he continued. “I think we can also all agree that we’d rather be here right now hearing that you’ve made the decision together and with no hard feelings to call off your wedding rather than sitting here years from now hearing you cry about a bitter divorce. I think what you’re doing is very brave and I, for one, am proud of you.”

  A single tear escaped down Ava’s cheek as she said thank you to her brother for not only his kind words but for bringing peace back in to the room. “I really am sorry that there won’t be a wedding today,” she said. “It wasn’t my intention to do it this way. Mason and I kept thinking that our feelings would change but in the end, they didn’t.”

  Lacey went to stand beside Ean as conversation died down and plans were made on how the rest of the day would play out now that there wasn’t going to be a wedding. The sound of the doorbell ringing brought everyone’s head around.

  “Oh, dear,” Mrs. Callahan said, walking toward the door. “That will be Pastor Steve! Now we’ll have to explain all of this mess to him.”

  “Such a shame…” seemed to be the phrase of the moment because Lacey heard it from more than one person around the room. She sought out Ava and pulled her aside.

  “You’re sure? I mean, really sure that you’re doing the right thing?”

  “Lacey, for the first time in a long time I am confident in what I am doing. As much as I hate the thought that everyone did so much for us to make this day happen and that it was all for nothing, it just makes me sad.”

  “Well, I can’t be too disappointed,” Lacey admitted. “After all, if it wasn’t for you and your wedding, Ean and I probably would have never found each other again. We’d have kept up our own version of ‘keep away’ and never realized what we could have together.” She turned and saw Ean across the room and smiled. “I would have never known the love of the man of my dreams. And who knows,” she added, turning back to Ava, “maybe someday we’ll be the ones getting married right here and you can wear my maid of honor dress!” It was meant as a joke but Ava’s face was suddenly very serious.

  “That’s it!” she said, looking around as if it was obvious to everyone what she was thinking.

  “What? What’s it?” Lacey asked, confused.

  “You and Ean! There can still be a wedding here today!” Ava’s voice got louder with each word and Lacey pinched her on the arm to quiet her down.

  “Are you crazy? What is the matter with you? How could you even suggest such a thing?”

  “Oh, I don’t know; maybe because the two of you are crazy in love with one another? Maybe because we have all the makings of a wedding right here, right now? And finally, because that cottage on the hill is ready and waiting for a couple of newlyweds tonight and should not be disappointed!”

  “For crying out loud, Ava! It’s a house! It’s not waiting for anything!”

  Just then Ean walked over. “What’s going on?”

  Before Lacey could stop her, Ava told him her plan. “Don’t you see, it’s all right here, ready and waiting! You can avoid all of the arguments and tears of planning a wedding because it’s already done. What do you say?”

  The silence was awkward. Part of Lacey wanted to be offended that he didn’t instantly propose to her but the logical side of her knew that it might seem weird to just step in to someone else’s wedding like this. Plus, as much as they’d talked about their future together, and marriage seemed like an obvious choice down the road, it wasn’t something they had discussed yet.

  If he asked, would she be able to say yes? It would be so unlike her. Lacey was a planner, she made lists! She certainly didn’t do spontaneous things like get married on a moments notice! Although, if there were one man she’d do that for, it would be Ean Callahan. Why wouldn’t he say anything? He wasn’t even looking at her! Not wanting to seem obvious, she snuck a quick glance at him and saw him staring at Ava, a small smile on his face. Ava arched a brow at him and Lacey had to wonder at the brother/sister connection. It was like they were having a conversation without saying a word!

  “Can I have everyone’s attention?” Ean called out as he took Lacey’s hand and turned to face the roomful of guests once again. “I have something else to say.”

  All eyes were on them and Lacey had no idea what he was doing. If he was going to ask her to marry him here today, shouldn’t he have asked her first? Alone? Her heart was hammering in her chest and she looked at him just as expectantly as every other person in the room.

  “As we’ve already established, Mason and Ava will not be getting married today. I know that we’re all disappointed that it came to this but I for one cannot be sorry. You see, two months ago I came up here to get away from life for a little while. I needed some time away from work and family and pretty much everything to figure out what I wanted for my future. What I didn’t know what that my future was waiting for me right here.”

  He turned and faced Lacey. “I saw you first in the grocery store and then again while I was flat on my back in the snow with stars in my eyes – and they weren’t only from banging my head.” He chuckled and reached out to caress her cheek. “Just the mere sight of you brings me to my knees. I look at you and my heart races. You challenge me; you make me laugh and you made me realize that I was missing so much from my life. You brought joy and laughter into my days and most of all, you filled my days with love.”

  There was no way to stop the tears from flowing and very nearly ruining her very expensive make up job. Ava swooped in with a tissue and then stood nearby with the entire box. Ean wiped her tears away the same way he’d done days before. “I know you like to plan things and I know this wasn’t something we had even discussed but Lacey Quinn, I love you. I knew from that first night that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. There is no one else in this world for me but you and,” he got down on one knee, “it would be an honor if you would agree to be my wife.”

  Oh my gosh! This is really happening! Ean is proposing! I’m getting married! Wait, have I answered him yet?

  Looking down, she saw the ring in his hand and realized that she had not yet given him an answer. Taking a deep breath, she smiled. “Ean Callahan, I have waited since I was fourteen to be your wife.” She laughed through the tears. “I don’t want to wait any longer; yes, I will marry you!” In a flash of activity, the ring was on her finger and Ean was kissing her. All around her people were clapping and talking and she heard nothing but activity going on all around the room.

  “You’ll have time for that later,” Ava said as she dragged Lacey away from Ean. “It’s time to get the bride ready!”

  With a last glance over her shoulder she said to Ean, “I guess I’ll see you soon.” His grin was the biggest she’d ever seen. “I’ll be the one in white.”

  He laughed. “I’ll be the one waiting.”

  Hopefully not long, was all Lacey thought as she was swept away in to the Callahan’s master bedroom surrounded by her mother and Ean’s plus her sisters and Ava.

  “Luckily you and I are the same size,” Ava said, taking her dress down from its hook on the door. “I know it may not be what you would have picked out but you’re going to look gorgeous.”

  People were fussing all around her and at some point Lacey realized that it was a good thing because she was sure that if she was given a moment to herself she’d probably have a panic attack over what they were about to do.

  “Am I crazy?” she asked her mom when they had a moment to themselves.

  Denise Quinn looked at her youngest daughter and smiled. “Lacey, I know you’ve been wild about Ean most of your life. Seeing the two of you together these last couple of months was like always watching a private moment. The love that the two of you share was so obvious to everyone who saw you.” Lacey blushed at her mother’s words. “You are a very level headed woman; you always have been and I don’t think you’re crazy for deciding to marry the man that you love. Neither of you are the type to take such a thing lightly and I trus
t Ean to make you happy.”

  “Thank you, mom.” She did not want to start crying again and so Lacey forced herself to take a couple of deep breaths. “I know this isn’t how you probably imagined your youngest daughter getting married…”

  “Are you kidding me?” she laughed. “After what your sisters put me through with their weddings this is an absolute gift! We got off easy! I’m just sorry that we didn’t have more time to prepare and do something special for you.”

  “Mom, I don’t need anything else. Like you said, I’m marrying the man that I love. He’s all I ever wanted.”

  “Okay, everyone, it’s time!” Ava yelled from the bedroom doorway. “You ready?” she asked, looking at Lacey and grinning.

  “More than,” Lacey replied.

  “You know, I really should hate you,” Ava said when they were alone and waiting for Lacey’s dad to come for her.

  “Hate me? Why?”

  “Well, for starters that dress looks better on you than it did on me!” Lacey turned and looked at her reflection for what was probably the twentieth time and smiled wickedly. It did look great on her. The form-fitting strapless style was not something she would have picked for herself but she couldn’t be sorry for it. Ean was going to love it!

  “You have good taste,” Lacey said simply, “But I have a great body.” They laughed and hugged. “Thank you for being willing to share all of this with me. I cannot tell you how much it means to me.”

  “Good because I’m not done telling you why I should hate you,” Ava said, wiping tears from her own eyes. “I have got to stop doing that today!”

  “So you still hate me, why?”

  “Oh, right. First, there’s the dress.”

  “We’ve covered that.”

  “Right. Then there’s the cottage.”

  “We’re not having this conversation again…”

  “Yes we are. You proved the fairytale right, Lace. You’ll be telling stories to future generations about how you met up with Ean again and fell in love and lived happily ever after thanks to the Christmas cottage. That was going to be my story!”

  Lacey wanted to argue with her but just didn’t have it in her. Ava was right. As much as Lacey wanted to dispute the tale, the truth was had it not been for the Christmas cottage, there would be no wedding today. Still, they had to get to the ceremony in order to get to the honeymoon so that her happily ever after could begin.

  Her dad popped his head in to the room. “Ready, sweetheart?”

  And she was; for the ceremony, for Ean and for her happily ever after.

  Epilogue

  Much later that night, Lacey and Ean were relaxing in what was quickly becoming known to them as ‘their’ cottage, and talked about their wild day.

  “Who knew I could actually be spontaneous?” she said, clearly amused with herself.

  “You pulled it off quite well,” he said, kissing her head. “You definitely have a future in being a rebel.”

  “Let’s not get carried away,” she laughed. “This was an exception. No one else could possibly make me do something this out of my comfort zone but you.”

  They lay together staring in to the fire, both realizing how fortunate they were. “Was Ava terribly upset?” he finally asked. “It couldn’t have been easy watching you have the wedding that she’d planned.”

  “She was amazing. It seemed like it was almost a relief for her.” Lacey shared with him Ava’s list of grievances with her but how in the end it was all said in good fun. “I just wish that she could have made it work with Mason.”

  “He wasn’t the one. End of story. Not everyone is fortunate enough to know someone for twenty something years and then realize they’re in love like we are,” he joked and felt her elbow to his ribs. “What? Am I lying?”

  “No, but when you say it, it sounds ridiculous.”

  “Ava will find someone and in no time we’ll be back up here having to decorate this cottage again,” and then he paused. “You do realize that we decorated this cottage for ourselves, right?”

  She agreed. “Thank goodness we scaled it down a little bit or we’d be choking on the overwhelming Christmas theme.”

  “I feel a little bit jipped. When Ava gets married, she’s decorating the damn cottage herself.” Lacey laughed. “And we’ll make her do it to our specifications. How does that sound?”

  “Like a plan.” Lacey looked up in to Ean’s face and brought him forward for a kiss. “I love you, Ean Callahan.”

  “Thank God,” he sighed and sank back in to kissing his wife and sending up another prayer of thanks for the wonderful Christmas present he had received.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Epilogue