A Very Married Christmas: A Silver Bell Falls Holiday Novella(2)

There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that she wanted to marry Josiah Stone. He had been her only beacon of hope at a time when she felt so completely lost and alone. The thought of spending the rest of her life with him excited her.

Except…now that they were most likely going to start planning the rest of their lives, that excitement was making her feel a little sick.

In a good way!

Slowly, she let out a breath and waited for Josiah to continue.

“So I’d like to think that we can start talking about this without making ourselves crazy.” The slow and sexy grin he gave her helped calm her nerves a little. She wanted to marry Josiah more than anything in the world and he was right—they were finally at a place where their lives had calmed down. It truly was the best time to start talking about wedding plans.

“I agree,” she said softly, squeezing his hand. “Where do we even begin?”

“Actually, I may have undersold myself when I said I’ve been giving this a lot of thought.”

She looked at him in confusion. “What does that even mean?”

Twisting in his spot, he faced her head on. “Mel, I am a planner. It’s just in my nature and I can’t help it.”

The nervous laugh that came out couldn’t be stopped. “I know that and it’s one of the things I love about you!”

“I know I can be overwhelming at times because you’re much more laid back in how you do things,” he explained, and Melanie felt like this was simply a stalling tactic.

“Okay, so you’ve got some concrete ideas about our wedding,” she stated evenly. “That’s great! So…come on. Talk to me. What have you thought about? What kind of wedding do you see us having?”

It was the long breath he let out that gave Melanie her first clue that she wasn’t going to like what he had planned.

And the statement he blurted out confirmed it.

“I want us to have a Christmas wedding.”

****

“What?” she cried.

Josiah knew he was taking a big risk in presenting this to her—after all, Melanie had grown up hating Christmas. Hell, he’d only gotten her to have some good feelings toward the holiday in the last two years! But he knew if she’d just give him a chance, he’d be able to prove to her how a Christmas wedding would be amazing.

Jumping to his feet, he looked down at her shocked expression and did his best to keep his tone light and encouraging.

“Just…hear me out, okay?”

The look on her face said she would, but she certainly wasn’t happy about it.

“What could be better than getting married during such a festive time of the year?” he began but didn’t give her a chance to reply. “Think about it—everything, everywhere is already beautifully decorated. Any place we go won’t require much from us because it will already be decorated! The Poinsettias, Christmas trees, the lights…all that work will be done for us.”

“Josiah…”

“And everyone will be in town already so there won’t be a need for them to make a separate trip.”

“Who’s everyone? My dad is already here; he’s the only family I have and your family doesn’t live that far away. It’s hardly like they’d be making a huge sacrifice to come to town,” she countered.

“But all of our friends will be here too. You know how most people we know tend to travel either before Christmas or after the new year because they love all the festivities here in town Christmas week.”

Melanie let out a small sigh. “Look, I get what you’re saying. I really do. But…you know my feelings on Christmas.”

He immediately sat back down at her side. “And we’ve come such a long way, Mel! When we first met, you hated the holidays and everything about them. But after that first Christmas here, you changed. You saw how it all wasn’t so bad and—admit it—you even enjoyed it.”

She gave him a sour look. “I know that first Christmas was amazing but only because you made it that way for me. You went out of your way to make up for every single crappy Christmas I’d had since I was five!”

“And what about last year?” he prodded.

Another sigh. “You proposed last Christmas so of course that’s going to make for a great memory.”

“So you see…”

“But,” she quickly interrupted, “that doesn’t mean I want to get married during the month of December or anywhere near Christmas!”

He silently admitted to himself that he knew there were going to be some challenges in getting Melanie to see his way of thinking, but he was kind of hopeful that she wouldn’t be quite this hostile toward the idea. How was he supposed to convince her that this could be good for them? Great, even? What could he possibly do to show her how wonderful a Christmas wedding could be?

So he decided to opt for another tactic.

“Okay then… tell me when you think we should get married.”

Melanie’s eyes went wide. “Me?”

He nodded. “I told you what I was thinking and now it’s your turn to tell me your thoughts.”

“But…I haven’t thought about it!”

“Mel, you can’t tell me you haven’t—not once—thought about our wedding. It’s not possible.”