A Very Married Christmas: A Silver Bell Falls Holiday Novella(4)

She climbed from their car and met him at the hood. When he took one of her hands in his and gently squeezed it, Melanie couldn’t help but smile. They’d get through this. Surely they’d talk to Lisa and she’d tell them it was impossible to pull off a wedding on such short notice. The place was obviously here, but there were so many other things to consider—invitations, caterer, music, her dress…

Melanie gasped loudly.

“What?” Josiah asked nervously. “What’s the matter?”

Why hadn’t she thought about this before? Why hadn’t either of them thought about this in all their short discussions this week?

Tears stung her eyes and she wanted to curse them. This wasn’t a bad thing; it was a good thing! This was the exact detail she needed to get her out of this Christmas wedding and to prove how they needed more time to plan!

“A dress!” she cried. “Josiah, I don’t have a dress!”

He looked at her oddly. “So? We can go buy one. I don’t see what the big deal is.”

She rolled her eyes. “You cannot just go out and buy a wedding gown. They have to be ordered and then fitted and that takes months. Months!”

He must have thought this was just a made-up excuse, because he wasn’t the least bit flustered by her announcement. “We’ll talk about that later. Right now, Lisa’s waiting for us.”

“But…”

Raising her hand to his lips, he kissed it. “Come on. Let’s go see how the barn looks.”

It was pointless to argue and really, the curiosity was starting to kill her.

Together they walked toward the barn and greeted Lisa.

“Hey, you two! I’m so glad you could make it,” Lisa said. She was a native to Silver Bell Falls and she and her husband Hank were known for their handmade wood ornaments. They sold them every year at the big craft sale that was held right after the Christmas parade. The very first ornament Melanie had ever purchased was from Hank and Lisa.

“Thanks for doing this on such notice,” Josiah said with a smile. “I hope it wasn’t too much trouble.”

Lisa waved him off with a smile of her own. “It wasn’t a big deal at all. I love seeing this place decorated for the holidays and I was probably going to do it in another week or two so really, you just helped me get an early start.” Then she looked at Melanie and her smile grew. “You are going to love what we’ve done in here.”

“Oh?”

Stepping closer to the doors, Lisa explained. “We’ve had holiday parties here in the past and have kept to the basics of decor—lights, wreaths, and trees—but what I went for this time around, was a little more of a…” she looked over her shoulder at the two of them with a hint of giddiness. “Winter Wonderland.”

She swung the double-doors open and motioned for them to step inside. There was some snow on the ground outside and as Melanie and Josiah stepped into the barn, it almost felt the same inside.

Releasing Josiah’s hand, Melanie stepped into the large open space in awe. There were white twinkly lights and tiny silver stars hanging from the ceiling which gave the impression of a night sky. There were also two massive white chandeliers there that she’d never seen before. They had garland and red bows woven through them. Around the room were several tall and beautifully decorated Christmas trees and in between them were birch trees lit up with white lights. And the tables…the settings were everything Melanie could ever imagine and more.

“Lisa,” she said with wonder. “You have really outdone yourself. I…I can’t believe you accomplished all of this in a week!”

Appreciative of the praise, Lisa blushed. “As much as I love that you think I was able to pull this together so quickly, the truth is I’ve been working on this stuff for about six months.”

“Um…excuse me?” Melanie asked as she glanced at Josiah, silently accusing him of somehow orchestrating this for so long.

“Last Christmas we had several parties here and everything looked fine,” Lisa explained, “but I knew we could do more. So I’ve been scouring Pinterest for some new ideas.” She walked over to one of the tables. “Let me explain what we have here—and know that I do have a few other options if you don’t like what you see.”

It was on the tip of Melanie’s tongue to tell her how she didn’t have to explain anything. Without a wedding gown, there was no way they could get married this Christmas. Next Christmas? Maybe. The more she looked around the room, the more she could easily picture herself getting married in this setting. But right now…

“You’ll notice that each place setting has one of these silver pinecones,” she said as she held one up. “These frosty-looking pinecones are the classic winter adornment. Scatter them about your wedding for an instant - and cost-effective -seasonal touch. We put place cards in the top of them so your guests have a festive way of seeing where they sit.”

“Those are precious,” Melanie murmured and beside her, Josiah agreed.

“Josiah told me you wanted a rustic theme, so I did my best to combine that with a holiday feel. We can add more reds if you’d like, but I went with the white, silver and gold tablescape. I wanted to create a festive feel with clever and creative tablescaping; cinnamon sticks, pinecones, log slices and fir foliage all create a woodland ambiance.” She looked at both of them and smiled. “I believe this—along with the barn atmosphere—really work well together.”