by Jaid Black
“Which is exactly what happened,” Marc pointed out pragmatically.
Candy giggled. “Thank God.” She raised her wineglass toward Marc for a toast. “And may Devin Coltrane Green stay behind bars for the rest of his unnatural born life!”
“Hear, hear.”
Candy clinked glasses with Marc then turned to face Gwenyth and Sam. “Does anyone mind if I use the events of this night as the basis of my next book?”
The others groaned.
“Oh come on,” Candy protested, “I can see it now.” She raised her hand as if reading from a flashing neon sign lit up on Broadway. “The handsome, dashing hero rushes out into the night to save his beautiful, beloved heroine…”
“You think I’m handsome and dashin’?” Sam cleared his throat and sat up a little straighter. “I can see where you’d believe that.”
Gwenyth rolled her eyes and groaned. “Let’s not get carried away.”
Sam quirked a pompous brow. “Oh? And you don’t think I’m handsome and dashin’?”
“Well,” Gwenyth teased, “you have potential.”
“Potential?”
Gwenyth threw back her head and laughed. Just teasing Sam felt good. It was, after all, something she never would have gotten to do again if he hadn’t saved her from Devin’s clutches in time.
Gwenyth wrapped her arms around her husband’s neck and smiled brilliantly. Gazing into the eyes of the man she’d loved for over two decades, the man she knew she’d love for the rest of her life, she admitted without a qualm, “I can’t imagine a more perfect man to base a hero on.”
Epilogue
“Merry Christmas, Sis.”
“Merry Christmas, Bro.”
Gwenyth kissed Harry on the cheek, then waved him inside where the others were gathered. She noticed immediately that he had enough presents with him to put Santa Claus to shame. “Where’s Monique?”
“Monique?” Harry shook his head, wondering why his family always asked after her, much like one would a lover. “She couldn’t come along this year. Her family is spending the holiday in Europe.”
Gwenyth nodded as she took her brother’s coat. She still held a hope that Harry would eventually see Monique as more than just an ever-efficient assistant. “The gang is in the family room. Go on in there and I’ll join you in a minute.”
“Who all is here?”
“The usual.” Gwenyth shrugged. “Sam, Candy, Marc, Granddad and Grandmama.” She grinned. “I wanted Brian to come, but he had prior obligations.”
Harry snorted. “Is he still hunting Candy?”
“Relentlessly. She hasn’t been caught yet, but I can feel her resistance chipping away daily.”
“Good.” Harry chuckled. “They deserve each other.” Turning the topic, Harry gestured toward the family room where he could hear animated laughter and boisterous singing coming from. “So is my nephew in there too?”
“Of course.” Gwenyth smiled, the way she always did whenever the subject of her son came up. Sam teased her a lot these days, insisting that she had turned into one of those annoying parents that whips out pictures of their kids and shows them to everyone they meet.
Not that Sam was any better. They had both fallen head over heels in love with their little boy the moment they’d laid eyes on him. And whenever Sam teased his wife too mercilessly, she would simply remind him of the time in France when he’d whipped out a picture of the inside of her uterus and showed it to anyone who cared to see, and quite a few that didn’t. “I believe Sam and Granddad are showing Jackson the finer points of Christmas cookie eating.”
Harry made a show of licking his lips. “I think I can be of some assistance.”
Gwenyth shook her head in amusement as she followed her brother into the family room. “I’ve got presents!” Harry shouted. “Lots of them!”
Everyone cheered. Sam stood up to give his brother-in-law a great big bear hug. “We miss you around here, Bro. Marc and I are almost hopin’ you lose the next election so you’ll be back in Tampa in time to open up the restaurant with us.”
“Oh-ho! Never say that!” Harry hugged Sam back, then did the same to Marc. “Oh, and congratulations on making it to the finals this year, Sam.”
“Next year we’re takin’ the World Series. I can feel it.”
Marc nodded. “That’s what Brian says too.”
Harry considered that for a moment. “That would be a sweet retirement victory, wouldn’t it, going out on top?”
“Sure will be,” Sam agreed, always thinking in the positive. “Then I’ll have just two years left ‘til it will be time for this ole boy to settle down into the new function of full-time daddy and restaurant owner extraordinaire.”
Candy sauntered up to Harry’s side and kissed him on the cheek. Entwining one arm through his, she gestured with her free hand towards Sam. “Sounds like a plan. Jackson is keeping you on your toes, after all.”
Sam grinned. He glanced over to where his five-month-old son was sitting on Willy’s lap while Verlene read from a book of Christmas stories to him. His little tiger had already sprouted a full head of his daddy’s thick black hair. He had also acquired his mother’s expressive green eyes and adorable dimples. Sam had been glad about that. He’d always been a sucker for his wife’s eyes and dimples. Still was. “You’ve got that right. And with Gwen bein’ pregnant again, we will definitely have our hands full.”
“When is my sister’s due date?” Harry inquired. “I’d like to make certain that I’m on vacation so I don’t miss the big event like I did with Jackson.” He grinned proudly. “A man doesn’t become an uncle every day, you know.”
Chuckling, Sam rolled his eyes. “Tell that to Aunt Candy.” He ruffled her hair affectionately until she giggled. “You’d have thought the woman had done the honors herself the way she carried on.”
From across the room, Gwenyth smiled contentedly. She folded her arms under her breasts as she watched the people she loved make the most of the holiday season. With the arrival of their beloved son, Jackson Joseph Tremont, a new tradition had begun in the Jones-Tremont family.
Christmas Eves were now spent in Gwenyth and Sam’s home instead of at Verlene and Willy’s. Grandmama and Granddad had insisted, saying as delicately as they could that they were getting up there in years and needed to know all would be well when they left the earth.
Gwenyth couldn’t bear the thought. But she understood—she knew why they had wanted her to begin this new tradition. And as much as she wanted to hang on to the old ways, to refuse to deal with her grandparents’ mortality, she could do nothing less than what they had asked of her and Sam. Besides, Gwenyth planned to hold onto her grandparents for many more Christmas Eves yet to come.
Gwenyth couldn’t ever remember feeling more blessed than she did at this very moment. All of her dreams from childhood had come true. She was a world renowned fashion photographer that famous designers from around the world wanted to do business with. What’s more, her and Verlene’s firm was a complete success.
And then there was her marriage to Sam, the best childhood dream of them all. He was well and truly hers and Gwenyth knew that her husband loved her deeply. It still amazed her to think that they had made such a perfect, beautiful son together.
Gwenyth rubbed her belly with a smile. Another addition to the Tremont family was on the way.
Gwenyth walked over to where her grandparents and son sat and lowered herself down beside them. Kissing Willy’s rough cheek, and then Jackson’s smooth one, she smiled contentedly as she listened to Grandmama’s recitation of The Night Before Christmas.
Moments later, Gwenyth felt her husband’s strong arms wrap around her shoulders and pull her back into his embrace. She tilted her head back and smiled up at him, then leaned into him with a contended sigh and listened to Verlene’s melodic voice help bring in the spirit of the season to the family gathering.
Sam laced his fingers through his wife’s and rested his chin on top of her head.
“Merry Christmas, Cupcake. I love you.”
Gwenyth smiled dreamily. “Merry Christmas, Sam. I love you too.”
