Happily This Christmas--A Novel

by Susan Mallery

  “I need to withdraw my application.”

  The major raised his eyebrows. “All right. Want to tell me why?”

  Hunter looked at her, then at the floor, before raising his gaze to the instructor. “I lied on my application.”

  Wynn gave the other man credit. His expression didn’t change at all.

  “In what way?” he asked.

  “I faked my mom’s signature.”

  “I see.” Major Rumsey looked at her. “So you didn’t know Hunter had applied.”

  “Not until I got a call from Camilla, asking a few questions.”

  The major’s expression turned thoughtful. “I’m sorry to hear that, Hunter. Why didn’t you talk to your mother about the program?”

  His shoulders hunched. “I don’t know. I really wanted to do it, and I was afraid she’d say no. A couple of my friends wanted to apply and their moms said they couldn’t.”

  Major Rumsey kept his gaze on the teen. “But you never discussed the program with your mother?”

  “No. I thought...” He sighed. “I was wrong. I should have had the conversation with her. She’s not unreasonable. I just kind of reacted and that was dumb. Then I signed her name.” His shoulders hunched more. “I don’t know why I thought that was a good idea. It wasn’t.”

  He straightened. “It’s all on me. She didn’t know any of it. Once she found out, she said she was in an impossible situation. If she ratted me out, I’d get kicked out of the program. If she didn’t, she was teaching me the wrong lesson.”

  “I see. So how did you come to be in my office today?”

  “She said it was up to me. That she would do whatever I decided.”

  Major Rumsey looked at Wynn. “You took a chance.”

  She managed a slight smile. “I hoped for the best.”

  “And it happened.” He glanced between them. “I assume that your presence here today means you’re not opposed to JROTC.”

  “No. I’m not sure what I would have thought before, but from what I’ve read about the program, I’m impressed. I think Hunter would have done well here.”

  Major Rumsey turned his attention back to Hunter. “How old are you, son?”

  “Fourteen.”

  One corner of his mouth turned up. “I made a lot of mistakes when I was fourteen, and they all had consequences. What have you learned from this?”

  Hunter shifted in his seat. “That I need to tell the truth. That there’s a price for screwing up and it’s really high.” He stared at Major Rumsey. “I really wanted to do this. I think I would have been good at it. I like the training and the guys already in the program. I wish...” He hung his head. “I’m sorry.”

  “How are you going to punish him?” Major Rumsey asked her. “Take away his phone?”

  “That’s an ordinary punishment. This isn’t an ordinary infraction.” She glanced at Hunter. “I’d planned to talk you about this later, but as it came up, I’m thinking you can pressure wash and paint the deck in the backyard over your holiday break and do twenty hours of community service between now and the end of January.”

  Hunter’s eyes widened, but he didn’t speak.

  Major Rumsey nodded. “That sounds fair. It will give Hunter a lot of time to think about what he did wrong.” He steepled his fingers. “Junior ROTC is different from the college program. There’s no commitment of military service, and we are working with young people who are still developing. I have a fair amount of discretion when it comes to admissions. Our goal isn’t to exclude anyone interested in our program. Society as a whole is better when people understand commitment, leadership and service.”

  He dropped his hands back to the desk. “If you complete your punishment at home and the community service and stay out of trouble, you can reapply for next fall.” He looked at Wynn. “Assuming you agree.”

  “I do.”

  “Then we have a plan.” He stood and held out his hand to Hunter. “I hope you take this opportunity to learn an important lesson.”

  “I will,” Hunter promised. “You’ll see.”

  Wynn thanked him and they walked out. Once in the hallway, Hunter leaned against the wall.

  “It’s not over. I have a second chance.”

  “Yes, you do.”

  He flung himself at her, holding her tight. “I’m sorry, Mom. I won’t ever screw up again, I swear.”

  She chuckled as she hugged him back. “If only that were true.”

  * * *

  JOYLYN STARED AT her phone as it rang. The picture and accompanying Mom made it clear who was calling. She’d spent the past week or so only dealing with her mother by text, where it was easy to pretend everything was all right. A phone call was different.

  She debated not picking up but knew that was an immature response to what was going on, so told herself to suck it up before pushing the speaker button.

  “Hey, Mom.”

  “Hi, sweetie. How are you doing?”

  A simple enough question, Joylyn thought. And yet she wasn’t sure how to answer.

  “I’m good. Dad and I went to the first birthing class last night.”

  “Your father went with you?”

  “Someone had to. I can’t go alone—I need a partner.” Something her mother should know.

  On the heels of that thought came an uncomfortable combination of resentment and hurt. After all, her mother had been the one to kick her out of her own home and force her to go live with her dad. Something Joylyn had resented. Only now that she was here, she found herself enjoying her time with her father more than she would have thought.

  “Did it go all right?” her mother asked.

  “Yes. Dad’s pretty freaked about it, but I’m happy to have the information.”

  “So things are good between the two of you?”

  There was a tentative quality to the question, as if her mother wasn’t sure she wanted the answer.

  “They’re better now.” Joylyn put down the paper snowman she’d been assembling. “Mom, why did you let me not see Dad when I was a teenager? Why didn’t you force me to go with him on the weekends? I was a kid. I shouldn’t have been making that kind of decision myself.”

  “You were determined not to see him anymore. You said you’d run away if I made you.”

  “And you believed me?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe I should have pushed the issue. There was a lot going on in my life, Joylyn. You were a moody teenager, and I had three boys under the age of ten. As you’ll find out when you have children of your own, knowing the right thing to do isn’t exactly intuitive, okay?”

  “You sound really defensive.”

  “I feel defensive. All you do is complain. It’s not pleasant.”

  Joylyn stared at the phone in surprise. “I’m not complaining. I’m asking why you let me stop seeing my father when I was fifteen years old. The parenting plan gave him every other weekend. But you didn’t enforce that.”

  Her mom was quiet for nearly a minute. “I don’t know why. It was easier to give in and not fight you on that. Maybe a part of me was jealous that you always had such a good relationship with your father when all you and I did was fight.”

  Joylyn felt her mouth drop open. “Why would you be jealous? You’re my mom.”

  “I know, but I had the day-to-day slog, and then you’d go off and have fabulous weekends with him. When you got home, you couldn’t stop talking about how great a time you had. You always had secrets with him and things you did together.” Her mother sighed. “I’m sorry. That’s on me, not on you. There’s no one reason I didn’t push you to be with him. I guess I should have tried harder to make you. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” she said softly. “I did what I did because Sandy said he’d dumped her because he didn’t care about her and I was next. I got scared that she was te
lling the truth, so I stopped seeing him before he could tell me he didn’t want to spend time with me anymore.”

  “What? No! That bitch. I never liked her. What a horrible thing to say. You know it’s not true, don’t you? Honey, your dad adores you. He always has. If anything, I’m sure Sandy was jealous because you were so important to him.”

  Pretty much what her dad had told her, which was nice to get confirmed.

  “What a mess,” her mother said. “This makes me feel awful. I really should have made you keep seeing him. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay, Mom. It’s not your fault.”

  “It feels like it is. Then I sent you away. Do you want to come home?”

  Even two weeks ago that question would have had her throwing her things into her suitcases and heading west. But since then, a lot had changed. She and her dad were doing better. Plus she had a meeting at Weddings Out of the Box to talk about Holly’s wedding.

  “I’m good here,” she said. “It’s easier for everyone.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m fine, Mom. Really. I’ll be back when Chandler gets home.”

  “I miss you so much.”

  “I miss you, too, Mom.”

  They hung up.

  Joylyn stared at the phone, then picked up the snowman she’d been working on. Funny how a little information could change so many things, she thought. What was that saying? Perception was reality, or something like that? Whatever the saying was, she never would have guessed it was true.

  * * *

  HUNTER WAS QUIET the rest of the afternoon and evening. Wynn decided rather than press him to talk, she would let him work out whatever he was feeling on his own. A little after seven, he said he was going to read in his room—confusing, but again, she let him be. About twenty minutes later, there was a knock on her front door.

  She opened it to find Garrick on her front porch. The sight of his handsome face and strong, broad shoulders had her flinging herself at him. He caught her and pulled her close, then eased them both in the house and closed the door behind him.

  “Bad day?” he asked, lightly kissing her.

  “No, just stressful. You smell like wood shavings. It’s nice.”

  “I was working on the bassinet. Now that all the wood is cut and sanded, it’s coming together quickly.”

  “Joylyn is going to be excited when she sees it. She still doesn’t know?”

  “No.”

  They walked to the sofa. He sat first, then pulled her down next to him. She leaned her head on his shoulder and rested her arm across his chest.

  “Tell me what happened today,” he said, fingering one of her curls.

  She told him about visiting Major Rumsey and how Hunter had come clean.

  “I didn’t know what he was going to do until he asked me to meet him at the JROTC office and told me he was going to tell the truth.” She looked up at Garrick. “I wanted him to do the right thing and I hoped he would, but until that moment, I wasn’t sure.”

  “You should have been. You’ve raised a great kid. He’s going to be a good man.”

  “I hope so. Parenting is hard.”

  “And yet people do it again and again.”

  They did, she thought. They had multiple kids and raised them and were happy.

  “I should have had more kids,” she said impulsively.

  “I agree, but that was one of the ways you were punishing yourself.”

  She grimaced. “You figured that out?”

  “Once I knew your history, it wasn’t hard. Don’t give me any credit for being insightful. You believed you’d done a bad thing, so you stayed away from relationships—at least the guy-girl kind. Without that, it’s tough to get pregnant.”

  He was right. She hadn’t thought she was worthy. She’d carefully chased away anyone who had tried to get close. Something she was fairly sure she was over, which made her relationship with Garrick intriguing. She wondered how he felt about having more kids—not that she was going to ask. They hadn’t even slept together. Asking about children would send him screaming into the night.

  “Hunter’s upset,” she said, returning to the original subject. “He was quiet all afternoon. I know it’s a lot to take in.”

  “He’ll work through it and next fall he can apply again.”

  “I hope he does. I think the program would be good for him. Rules and discipline as he enters high school. It’s a mother’s dream.” She looked at him again and smiled. “And in your world?”

  “I went to my first birthing class.”

  She laughed. “How was it?”

  “Horrifying. I’m not sure how I’m going to get through the videos. The whole process is insane and unnatural.”

  “It’s actually very natural.”

  “For you.” He shuddered. “The cliché is true. If it were up to men to have babies, the human race would be dead in a generation. Can we talk about something else?”

  “Is this where I point out you were the one who brought up the birthing class?”

  “Sure, but I take it back. I was wrong.”

  “Ah, the W word. That’s exciting to hear. All right—a new topic. We’re having the meeting about Holly’s wedding tomorrow. I’m really excited to see what Renee’s pulled together. With what we’ve all pitched in, Holly and Rex are going to have a great wedding.”

  “Something they can remember always,” he said.

  “That’s what a wedding should be. Especially because they’re still young.”

  “And you’re old?” His voice was teasing.

  “No, but I’m less idealistic than I was.” She sighed. “I had to cancel Hunter’s sleepover.”

  “I figured.”

  “So we won’t have the house to ourselves.”

  He put his hand under her chin, pressing gently until she looked at him.

  “I want nothing more than to make love with you,” he said gently. “But our lives are complicated. I’m not going anywhere, Wynn. When the time is right, we’ll take that step, but until then, it’s okay.”

  Which was exactly the right thing to say, she thought happily. “That’s what I think, too.”

  “Good.”

  “Why aren’t you married?”

  He chuckled. “There’s a question.”

  “What’s the answer?”

  “I was married and it didn’t work out.”

  “So you won’t do that again?”

  “No.” He paused. “After Sandy and I split up, there was the whole Colombia thing. That messed with my head. When I got home, I was restless. I heard about the job here and moved back. Since then, I’ve been busy settling.”

  “It doesn’t take three years to get settled.”

  His gaze was steady. “I’m not opposed to marriage. Are you?”

  She fought against the urge to put a little distance between them. Somehow the conversation had gone in a direction she hadn’t expected.

  “I’m not,” she said softly.

  “Good to know. Now I’m going to suggest we go watch some TV before we both feel this has gotten too awkward.”

  She laughed and stood up. “Any suggestions on what kind of show?”

  “Maybe a medical drama.”

  “Not a reality show about fashion?”

  He smiled. “I hear chunky heels are making a comeback.”

  “Do you even know what a chunky heel is?”

  “No, but it sounded good, didn’t it?”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  JOYLYN DIDN’T KNOW what to expect from the wedding consultation. She knew time was tight, and Holly would have to take what could be put together in days rather than weeks or months. When she and Chandler had planned their wedding, they’d taken almost a year. She and her mother had gone over every detail, and the day ha
d been exactly as she’d dreamed it would be.

  She arrived at Weddings Out of the Box right on time. Wynn arrived seconds later and parked next to her. They walked in together, passing several decorated Christmas trees and a dozen or so freestanding, six-foot-tall candy canes.

  “I’m looking forward to this,” Wynn said. “All my friends are in the wedding business, but I rarely get involved in the actual planning. Maybe one or two weddings a year. This is going to be fun.”

  “I know Holly’s excited,” Joylyn said. “I hope we’re able to make the day special for her. It’s really last minute.”

  Wynn smiled. “Renee knows how to work a miracle. I think you’re going to be pleased with what she’s pulled together.”

  They walked into the conference room. It was plain, with a long table and a large video screen at one end. Renee was already there, looking pulled-together in a beautiful dark green suit. Her thick, long, red hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She smiled when she saw them.

  “Hi. I think I have everything ready. It’s been a whirlwind, that’s for sure.” She waved to the empty chairs. “Have a seat and we’ll get started.”

  Joylyn and Wynn sat across from her. Renee typed on her laptop and the screen lit up, showing the same view as her computer. She dialed a number and they connected with Holly. The screen on the wall split, showing Holly on one half and the display from Renee’s computer on the other.

  Joylyn waved at her friend. “Hi! I can’t believe we’re doing this. Are you excited?”

  “I am.” Holly smiled. “Rex and I are so happy we’re going to have a real wedding.”

  “You are,” Renee said with a laugh. “I’m Renee by the way. Nice to see you in person, Holly.”

  “Nice to see you, too.”

  “This is Wynn,” Joylyn said, pointing to her. “She’s my dad’s neighbor. She’s the one who suggested checking with Renee about putting on the wedding.”

  Wynn waved. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Now that everyone has met,” Renee said, opening her tablet, “let’s get busy with planning. Holly, are we still at fifty guests?”