A Very Married Christmas: A Silver Bell Falls Holiday Novella(18)

The amount of people walking around them was staggering. Hell, the number of people doing the exact same thing as they were doing—simply standing and watching the skaters—was staggering.

“Look at that couple,” she said softly.

He laughed again. “You’ll have to be a little more specific. There’s a lot of them down there.”

“The older couple in the middle. She’s wearing a red coat with a white scarf and he’s got on the black coat…”

“With the red scarf,” he finished for her. They were an elderly couple—although from this distance he’d be hard-pressed to say how old. “I see them.”

“Look how happy they are,” she said with wonder. “I bet they’ve been coming here to skate for years.”

“It’s possible.” Although they could be tourists…

“I bet they’ve been coming here since they were young. Maybe this is where they met and fell in love.”

Ah…the romance writer in her was coming out. He wasn’t often privy to her creative process and this small glimpse seemed a little like a gift. “You think so, huh?”

Nodding, she said, “I bet right now they’re talking about how crowded it is now and how it never used to be this way. He’ll complain about it because that’s what men do…”

“Hey!”

“And she’ll tell him that this is the way it’s supposed to be—especially at this time of year.” She sighed dreamily. “They’ll talk about bringing the grandkids with them next weekend because that’s what they do and it will make for a wonderful memory.”

If anything, he fell a little more in love with her in that moment. The whimsical side of her was in slight contrast to the practical woman she normally was. He kissed her temple again. “That would definitely make for a wonderful memory.”

She nodded again and slowly turned in his arms. “We should have a memory like that.”

He looked at her curiously. “I’m not graceful enough on skates under normal conditions. I have a feeling with this sling I’d be at a real disadvantage.”

Laughing, she rested her head on his chest. “Not skating,” she said softly and when she looked up at him again, all traces of humor were gone and she looked…contemplative. Serious.

“Mel? You okay?”

A slow smile played at her lips. “You know what? I am. I really think I am.”

That seemed a little…cryptic, but he decided to wait her out.

“Skating wasn’t the memory I was talking about,” she said slowly, as if she wanted him to fully understand what she was getting at.

“O-kay…”

“Josiah Stone, you’ve opened my eyes to a world I had shut off. And as we’ve walked around the city today all I could think of was how wonderful everything looked, felt.” She paused and took a steadying breath and let it out slowly. “And I think…I think we can make something this magical for ourselves.”

He was afraid to get his hopes up, afraid he was reading her wrong. “So you’re saying…?”

“I’m saying…let’s get married for Christmas!”





Chapter Seven


They were back in Silver Bell Falls and Melanie was a little surprised at how fast news of their plans had traveled.

“Why…does it look like Christmas threw up in here?” she asked cautiously when they walked through their front door.

Beside her, Josiah laughed softly. “I can’t say with any great certainty, but if I had to venture a guess, I’d say we have some wedding elves at work.”

“Already? We just called my dad to tell him the news. No one else knows!”

Closing the door behind them, Josiah moved into the space. “We called my family too, Mel. They may not live here anymore, but they still have a lot of friends they keep in touch with.”

“I suppose,” she murmured, looking around at the two decorated trees, the assortment of Poinsettias, the platters of food, and the fire burning in the ornately-decorated fireplace. “There’s music playing, right? I’m not imagining it?”

“There you two are!” John said as he walked out of the laundry room and came over to embrace them. “How was your flight?”

Melanie hugged him distractedly. “It was fine, Dad. What’s going on here?”

He grinned sheepishly. “I guess I should have checked with you first…”

“Dad…”

He sighed even as he seemed to look at Josiah for backup. “Fine. I called Lisa and told her you’d made your decision and I booked the barn.”

“Oh,” she quickly said but then motioned to the room. “This was more of what I was referring to, Dad.”

Looking over his shoulder, John let out a nervous chuckle. “This? Um…well, I might have been at the diner when I called Lisa and there were a lot of people around and I guess…” He sighed. “Everyone just started talking at once and volunteering to help the two of you plan the wedding. Things have been arriving all day and I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings and…”

“John,” Josiah said, placing a hand on his future father-in-law’s shoulder, “it’s okay. This is just the sort of thing that happens in Silver Bell. We’re used to it.”