Merrily Ever After--A Novella

by Jenny Holiday

  “Ready?” Cameron said.

  “Thank you,” Elise said, and she imbued those two words with enough emotion that she was pretty sure Cameron knew what she meant.

  He smiled. “You’re so welcome.”

  As they rounded the corner, the music changed to “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

  “Watch your step,” Cameron murmured.

  Elise looked down. The floor was covered with Christmas rugs. Small, doormat-style ones that were lined up one after another to make a path of sorts. Santas and snowmen and reindeers—it was a hodgepodge of dorky holiday scenes.

  She let loose a delighted laugh as she caught Jay’s eye. He raised his eyebrows and shot her a hot look. Rugs were a longstanding inside joke with them—a longstanding sexy inside joke.

  He was standing in front of the sliding doors that led to Jane’s backyard, but the curtains were closed. Next to him was the judge who’d married them a year and a half ago. Wow. He was really going all out here.

  Elise greeted the judge, who said, “I understand congratulations are in order?”

  She grinned. “Yes.” Because they were, and because this was the first time she’d allowed herself to be simply, uncomplicatedly happy over that fact.

  “I rented a snow machine,” Jay said.

  “What?” Elise laughed, shaking her head at the abrupt segue.

  “Yeah, I really wanted to make it snow for you.”

  Elise’s laughter turned into a sniffle. That was Jay in a nutshell, manipulating the world—the weather—to make Elise happy.

  He grinned and slid open the curtains. “But we don’t need it, because it’s snowing for real.”

  She gasped. It was snowing. It was finally snowing. Big, fat, clumpy flakes that almost looked like giant pieces of confetti. Jane’s backyard lights were on, which created a warm glow. The whole thing looked like a snow globe.

  Jay appeared at her side. He was holding her coat. “What do you say we do this outside?”

  “Yes!”

  And so she went outside with her friends and married her husband again.

  They had written their own vows the first time, and he said the same thing to her that he had then. Except he did it with one hand on her stomach.

  “I will always take care of you.” There was heat and affection in equal measure in his smile. “Both of you.”

  Then he added the line he’d talked about in bed last night. “Even when you don’t want me to.”

  No one laughed this time. Her friends all knew that vow had been tested, that his saying those words again meant all the more, like a broken bone that heals stronger.

  “You turned my life upside-down,” he went on. “You walked into my life, and all my preconceived notions about how I wanted to live flew out the window. You remade me.”

  He added a second hand to her belly and repeated another line from last night. “Keep remaking me.”

  She stumbled through her vows—they hadn’t been as articulate as his at their first wedding, and they weren’t now. But it didn’t matter. He gazed at her like she’d hung the moon, when in fact he was the one who had—somehow, magically—made it snow.

  When the judge instructed them to kiss, his mouth came down on hers immediately, hungrily. Like he’d been suffering through the whole ceremony waiting for this moment.

  She sighed against his lips. They were back. They were better.

  Their friends started clapping.

  “Merry Christmas!” someone shouted.

  He broke the kiss, but instead of pulling away, he leaned over and whispered in her ear.

  “So if you still object to happily, how about ‘They lived merrily ever after’?”

  “Yes.” That sounded just right. “They lived merrily ever after.”

  Epilogue

  Eight weeks later

  Hang on, now, live what?”

  Elise had just climbed onto the bed in the ultrasound clinic when Jay and the technician started talking about…broadcasting? Had they said live broadcasting?

  “Live broadcasting,” Jay confirmed, like this was a normal phrase associated with ultrasounds.

  This wasn’t a normal ultrasound. They’d had a few of those—one right after Christmas to properly date the pregnancy, and then her OB had been cool about ordering a couple extra ones to check that everything was okay, given the miscarriage risk. This, by contrast, was a super fancy ultrasound that wasn’t covered by the healthcare system. It was elective and expensive—and was going to result in one of those creepy 3-D pictures of the baby.

  This ultrasound was Jay’s deal. He had gone, in the space of a few short weeks, from “freaking the fuck out,” to use his phrase, to doting dad-to-be. If there was anything pregnancy associated that could be “upgraded,” Jay was all over it. Which was why Elise was the owner of not one, not two, but three pregnancy body pillows (“they each claim to do different things”) and why she was going for weekly prenatal massages even though it was still early enough that she didn’t really have any physical aches or pains (“think of it as a preemptive thing”).

  And why she was lying here waiting for “the gold package” at this fancy clinic that looked more like a spa.

  But no one had said anything about live broadcasting.

  She shot Jay a look. “Dude. I’m doing this bonkers ultrasound for you.” She personally had always found those 3-D ultrasound pictures unsettling—the “babies” always looked more like aliens than humans—but Jay was super into this, so she was going along with it. And even though they were out of the first trimester and her miscarriage risk was substantially decreased, it was always nice to get a peek at the baby and to be reassured that everything was progressing well.

  Still, live broadcasting? Had he lost his mind? “I don’t want this on YouTube.”

  Jane, who had come along with them, snickered.

  “It’s not live, like out in the world,” Jay said. “Just live to Wendy and Gia. They’ve been e-mailed a secure, private link, and they’re standing by.”

  Oh. Tears rushed into Elise’s eyes. That was so…perfectly thoughtful. So perfectly Jay. Gia was working in London, and Wendy and Noah were in Rio—the last stop on their half year of world travels before their wedding later in the month.

  “I just thought you might want them with you, so to speak. I mean, they were there when I proposed. They were at the wedding.”

  “Both weddings,” Jane interjected.

  “Yes,” Elise croaked, grabbing Jay’s hand and squeezing hard.

  “I don’t even know why I’m here,” Jane deadpanned. “I could be at home in my pajamas watching on my computer.”

  They all laughed, and Elise took Jane’s hand with her other one. “I love you guys so much.”

  “Shall we get started?” the technician asked.

  “Yes,” Elise said. “Let’s see the little alien.”

  * * *

  “There.” At home later, Jay finished futzing with the back of the picture frame he’d stuck the ultrasound picture into, turned it over, and admired it again.

  Not it. Her. Mia.

  But he kept that thought to himself. They’d decided not to find out the gender of the baby. Elise wanted to be surprised, and he wanted what Elise wanted.

  But really, the reason he’d agreed to the “surprise” was that he knew. He just knew.

  Elise tilted her head and regarded the picture. She opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but then closed it.

  He chuckled. “It’s not for you. I’m taking it to work.”

  “Oh, good. I was trying to think of a nice way to tell you that I’m not displaying that in my house.”

  He slung an arm around her shoulder—they were sitting on the couch watching the snow fall as the February afternoon dimmed into evening.

  “Speaking of displaying things in the house…” He got up and offered her a hand.

  “Uh-oh.” But she was smiling as she spoke.

  “C
ome upstairs.”

  She smirked. “I can’t begin to imagine what you might have up there.”

  He led her up to the nursery—his former office. They’d struck a deal to share her upstairs office, and for now, she was keeping her in-home studio downstairs.

  The nursery-to-be was about half done. Lots of people expressed surprise that Elise, being Elise, hadn’t already completely designed and furnished the space, but he got it. Though her doctor had assured them that everything was looking good, they were moving slow. Getting used to the idea.

  Well, she was moving slow.

  He, however, was not moving slow, at least as it related to “his” corner of the nursery. “Can you spot the new one?”

  She grinned and leaned in to study the shelf that was now home to sixteen snow globes, one for each week of the pregnancy. He’d bought her one for Christmas and had given it to her on Christmas Day, when they were alone. It had been of a bride and groom in front of a Christmas tree. It was a little cheesy, which had been half the point.

  She’d loved it, and had stuck it on a shelf in the nursery, saying she couldn’t wait to tell their kid about their Christmas vow renewal. And never one to resist indulging Elise when she’d expressed enthusiasm over something, he’d bought her another one. He’d also quickly back-filled the weeks that had already elapsed. There had been a New Year’s globe, a Valentine’s globe. At twelve weeks, when the baby was supposedly the size of a peach, a globe with a peach tree inside. That one he considered a triumph, given that it generally didn’t snow in places in the world where peaches grew. It was also his favorite because twelve weeks was when the risk of miscarriage had decreased and he’d been able to breathe a little easier.

  If the baby was on time, they would end up with forty. And he hadn’t told Elise yet, but he planned to keep the tradition up after the birth with a yearly snow glove on the baby’s birthday. It was going to be Christmas all the damn time in their house.

  She picked up the new one. “Florida!”

  Yep. The base had FLORIDA written on it in bright yellow letters, and under the glass were two Santa-hat-wearing flamingos “kissing” against a backdrop of palm trees decorated like Christmas trees.

  She picked up the snow globe and shook it vigorously. “I can’t wait!”

  They were going to Wendy and Noah’s beach wedding in Florida in a few days, and he could not wait, either. As much as he loved watching his wife love winter, he was personally looking forward to escaping the cold for a while. But also to getting away from it all with Elise. He was beyond excited for Mia’s arrival but he also knew that she was going to utterly upend their lives. So he was planning to make the Florida trip into a babymoon of sorts. One last chance for them to just bask in each other.

  And, he couldn’t deny, he was also looking forward to seeing her in her bikini. The gentle curve of her belly made him more than a little crazy. There was something primal about it. He leaned into that feeling when he got scared—which he still did from time to time. He was excited mostly, even though he had his moments of terror. But usually all it took to stabilize him was a hand on his wife’s belly. Or a LEGO-building session. Unbeknownst to Elise, he was working on the birthday snow globe—he’d bought a make-your-own-snow-globe LEGO kit and was working on a little Mia and friends scene to stick in there instead of the Santa and Christmas tree it had come with.

  He took the Florida globe from her, set it back on the shelf, and tried to channel his inner uptight accountant. “We need to talk about this trip, and we should probably go sit down. I don’t want to alarm you, but this is a serious matter.”

  Her eyes widened. “What? What’s wrong?”

  “We need to talk about what games we’re going to bring to Florida. We’re flying, so it’s not like we can just bring them all.”

  Her eyes sparked even as she cracked up. “Good point. It might even be advisable for us to play a few right now. See what catches our interest.”

  “That”—he patted her butt and pointed down the hall toward their room—“is an excellent idea.”

  She went, but she paused in the doorway to their bedroom. “I love you.”

  Something in his chest twisted. He was such a goner. “I love you, too.” He bent over and kissed her, quick but hard. “But I would love you a lot more naked on the other side of a Scrabble board.”

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  About the Author

  Jenny Holiday is a USA Today bestselling author who started writing at age nine when her awesome fourth-grade teacher gave her a notebook and told her to start writing some stories. That first batch featured mass murderers on the loose, alien invasions, and hauntings. (Looking back, she’s amazed no one sent her to a shrink.) She’s been writing ever since. After a detour to get a PhD in geography, she worked as a professional writer, producing everything from speeches to magazine articles. Later, her tastes having evolved from alien invasions to happily-ever-afters, she tried her hand at romance. She lives in London, Ontario, with her family.

  Learn more at:

  Jennyholiday.com

  Twitter @jennyholi

  Facebook.com/jennyholidaybooks

  Also by Jenny Holiday

  The Bridesmaids Behaving Badly series

  One and Only

  It Takes Two

  Praise for the

  Bridesmaids Behaving Badly series

  It Takes Two

  “Jenny Holiday turns up the heat and the charm for a summer read more satisfying than a poolside popsicle.…It’s hard to imagine finding a more delightful summer escape.”

  —Entertainment Weekly

  “This is romantic comedy at its best, complete with clever, sexy banter, a vibrant cast of characters, [and] a wedding that is a character in itself.”

  —The Washington Post

  “A witty, sexy and wonderfully entertaining romantic comedy.”

  —USA Today, Happy Ever After

  “Holiday combines class and sass with a hefty dose of humor.…This winning hero and heroine will take up residence in readers’ hearts.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “[An] irresistible mix of lively, piquantly witty writing; sharply etched, marvelously memorable characters; and some completely combustible love scenes that are guaranteed to leave burn marks on readers’ fingers.”

  —Booklist, starred review

  One and Only

  “The perfect rom-com.”

  —Refinery29

  “A satisfying iteration of the contemporary bridezilla subgenre.”

  —The New York Times Book Review

  “When it comes to creating unputdownable contemporary romances, Holiday is in it to win it.”

  —Booklist, starred review

  “Delightfully sexy and sweet, Holiday knows how to deliver the perfect combination of sexual tension and happily-ever-after.”

  —Lauren Layne, New York Times bestselling author

  “One and Only is fantastic! A great start to a new series. Compelling characters, tons of heat, loads of heart. I highly recommend!”

  —M. O’Keefe, USA Today bestselling author