A Very Married Christmas: A Silver Bell Falls Holiday Novella(7)

“But once we knew what we wanted, it all came together pretty quickly, didn’t it? The hardest part was sitting down and talking through our ideas and the things we thought were important. After that, everything else fell into place.”

“It still took almost eighteen months from start to finish,” she reminded him. “The house wasn’t built overnight.”

“I know, I know, but a lot of the delays were weather-related. If you took that out, the timeline was much shorter, wasn’t it?”

“I suppose.”

“When you write your books, how long does it typically take you?”

“It depends,” she said softly. “Some stories just come to me and they flow effortlessly. I’ve written a novel in a month, but most of the time it takes two to three.”

“It’s a little like the house planning,” he went on. “Once everything is worked out in your mind, the rest just seems to flow.”

“Josiah, what exactly are you trying to say? It’s too early for my brain to be following the way this conversation is going back and forth between houses and books.”

He chuckled softly and placed another kiss on top of her head. “Mel, we already know we want to get married. We have the place and it’s decorated beautifully. We’ve been living together almost since we met. I don’t think we need to wait another year for a wedding. Personally, I don’t want to wait that long.” Then he shifted so he could look at her face and smiled softly. “I want you to be my wife. The sooner the better.”

Her heart kicked hard in her chest and that’s when it hit her.

She wanted to be his wife sooner rather than later too. Waiting another year just meant obsessing about things for a longer period of time.

“I don’t want to wait another year either,” she began carefully. “I love you and I want to be your wife, but…can’t we at least talk about another date? Something that doesn’t have to do with the holidays?” And before he could comment, she quickly added, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a date that is just ours? Something we aren’t sharing with the rest of the world?”

He sighed and she knew he was disappointed. Truth be known, she hated to be the one to make him feel that way, but she also knew she’d feel worse if she kept her feelings to herself. This was going to be their wedding and it should be on both of their terms.

The silence was beginning to make Melanie nervous, so she looked up. “Josiah?”

Another sigh. “I get what you’re saying and I guess I thought we had crossed that hurdle and you were over your whole hating of all-things-Christmas.” He shrugged. “In my head, I thought it would be the perfect way for you to have a whole different view of it—something positive and happy to wash away all the negative memories.”

Rolling over, she placed her hand on his chest directly over his heart. “You have done so much to make that happen and I really have learned that not everything about Christmas is bad, but…it doesn’t mean I want to share the happiest day of my life with it. Think about it, Josiah. As magical as it all sounds in your head, think of the reality of having it as our anniversary. We’d never get to celebrate it on its own—it’s always going to be a holiday to celebrate something else. And when we have kids, our anniversary will get lost in the shuffle. Is that really what you want?”

By the look on his face, he hadn’t thought about these things. Melanie knew how much Josiah loved Christmas and everything about it. Living his entire life in Silver Bell Falls, how could he not? It was like living in a giant Christmas card year-round! That’s why she felt it was important for him to be open to looking at other dates. While she could completely concede that Christmas and everything that went with it could be wonderful, there were also a lot of other wonderful times of the year for them to consider.

“How about this,” she began, hoping to encourage him a bit. “Let’s go and have some breakfast, break out the calendar and start looking at it. How does that sound?”

He considered her for a long moment. “Do you mind if I take a shower first?”

Not quite the response she was looking for but… “Sure! I’ll go get out all the makings for pancakes and get them started. Sound good?” She knew pancakes were one of his favorite breakfast foods and she hoped it would work in her favor by putting him in a good mood while they talked about potential non-Christmas dates.

Just as she was about to move away from him, Josiah surprised her by wrapping her in his arms and twisting them until she was beneath him. He kissed her thoroughly, deeply and left her completely breathless.

“Wow,” she said, trying to catch her breath. “The thought of pancakes got you that worked up?”

He laughed softly. “No. The thought of marrying you did.”

Winding her arms around him, Melanie hugged him close. “Breakfast can wait a little while longer, right?”

And by the sexy grin on his face, Josiah completely agreed.

****

Josiah waited until Melanie was out of the bedroom and he heard her working in the kitchen before moving from the bed. The first thing he did was reach for his phone and tap out a quick text for reinforcements. He wasn’t quite ready to admit defeat on his wedding plans and he knew he was going to need a little help if he was going to have a chance.