His For Christmas (3 page)

“You’re toast man.
Toast
.”

“Two steps forward.”

Joe shrugged and they shuffled forward.
“Sorry. Your sister is an awesome cook. She had me at ‘homemade’.
Seriously, her cooking reminds me of my Aunt Eugenia, bless
her.”

“Yeah, well if you don’t control yourself,
next year, instead of the eight foot tree we barely managed, she
might get inspired and want a ten footer. Picture that, food
whore.”

Joe blanched so he figured he’d made his
point. They both wore badges of honor in terms of multiple
scratches received from wrestling with nature. Man, moving this
bitch was a pain but what could he do. Anabelle had been watching
and he couldn’t let the pimple faced teenager get kudos from his
women folk while he stood and watched.

“It’s perfect guys! Absolutely perfect.”

They both sighed in relief and stepped away
from the tree.

Janie handed him five boxes of white
Christmas lights with a smirk. “Here you go, Uncle Derek.”

“Thank you, Janie.”
Not
.

Anabelle slid an arm around him. “You’re such
a good brother.” She squeezed him. “And you smell good…all
Christmas like.”

“Yeah. Like my car deodorizer,” Dani sniffed
and walked away.

“I’ll have you know, I use the fancy kind
that smells like Hawaiian Passion Fruit and the ladies love it.”
Joe said, waggling his eyebrows.

“Neanderthal.”

The food whore growled and rushed after Dani
to further debate her.

Derek shook his head and wrapped Anabelle in
a full body hug. “Come here, woman. It’s been at least thirty
minutes since our last kiss.” He made sure their kiss was G rated
since they had an audience but it was hard keeping his hands off
Anabelle when they were around each other.

Despite his best efforts, Janie muttered,
“Behave, children.”

“Go do the lights, babe, while I help Janie
with the popcorn string.” A Christmas Story played in the
background and little Ralphie was about to be pushed down the slide
by a scary looking elf. Alex snuck a handful of popcorn.

“Watch it. If you eat all the popcorn, there
won’t be enough to string for the tree.”

Alex stuck her tongue out at her older
sister.

“Punk.”

“Janie, don’t call your sister a punk.” Dylan
had bat like hearing because she was in the kitchen and nowhere
near the girls.

“But she stuck her tongue at me.”

“I don’t care.”

“How come you get to call me punk?” Derek
muttered under his breath.

“I heard that. Do I need to remind you of all
the things you’ve done to earn that moniker?”

“Hush, woman. No need to recite my misdeeds.”
He gave Anabelle one last smacking kiss and tried not to kill
himself putting up the lights. After fifteen minutes of going up
and down the stepladder he knew he needed the food whore. “Joe, a
little assistance here.”

His best friend ignored him or hadn’t heard
him. He and Dani were heavy into their debate. Derek shook his
head. He should stick them under mistletoe and let them have at
it.

“Joe!”

Their heads snapped in his direction.
“What?”

“A little help, here?”

“Oh. Okay. Coming, man.” He muttered
something under his breath to Dani that made her eyes squint and
rushed over.

“Your sister thinks that guys who writes
poetry are hot.
Can you believe that?
She told me on a
sliding scale of Neanderthal to polished male, I’m closer to the
Neanderthal side.
Can you believe that
? I sat through three
rounds of
Twilight
with three different women for
chrissakes. I’m in tune with what women want.”

Derek chuckled. “You’re a model of evolution,
man. A regular Edward Cullen.”

“You know it. I knew you’d have my back.” Joe
shook his head. “Your sister…”

***

“This one is for me and Anabelle.” Derek
claimed the big chair in the corner.

“I like this chair and a half. I wonder who
makes this?” Anabelle looked behind the chair for the
manufacturer.

“Dunno.” Derek shrugged, used to his love
looking over and under furniture for manufacturing information, a
result of dating an interior designer. “Don’t care. I picked it so
we can sit close.” He sent her an inviting grin.

She chuckled but didn’t argue and they
settled in. Dylan claimed an upholstered glider with an ottoman
while Dani and Joe were matching bookends of crossed armed
irritation on the long sofa with his three nieces in between.

Dinner and decorating were done and it was
family movie time. Home Alone was on the screen and bowls of
popcorn had been distributed. The evening had been fun bonding with
the only hiccup being when Dylan put up the girls’ baby
ornaments.

She’d looked sad. He knew the holidays were
hard without Kurt. He did the best he could to help but he knew it
wasn’t the same without her husband around. His sister used to be
fun and full of zest but life had kicked her to the curb. Raising
three kids alone had to be tough. He knew Dylan appreciated Dani
moving in to help but it was only temporary.

He wanted his sister to be happy again.

When he was nine, Dylan had been in charge of
picking him up from school because their father worked all the time
and their mom had been long gone. Dylan always brought his
skateboard because she knew he loved it. Together they’d skate
home, taking the long way. She wore her hair loose back then, long
and straight, sort of like a modern day Rapunzel with the light
shining from her eyes.

These days, she seldom smiled. Not unless it
was about the kids. He wanted his sister to be happy again. She
wasn’t old and he knew men found her attractive. Hell, growing up
half his buddies had crushed on her big time. The way she laughed
and smiled, she’d been magnetic.

On the television screen, Kevin slid down the
stairs and through his front door but Derek didn’t hear the kids
laughing. He looked around but the sofa was empty and Dylan was
wrapped in a quilt making little snoring noises.

He pulled Anabelle closer. “Cold,
sweetheart?”

Before she could answer, he pulled a red
plaid flannel blanket around them, thanking his sister’s
forethought in keeping a throw around. Although he didn’t think she
had the same intentions in mind as he had.

He brushed his hand against Anabelle’s
breast.

She jumped and looked over at him in
question.

“What are you doing?” she whispered.

“Except for Dylan, we’re alone. Haven’t you
noticed?” he whispered.

She looked around for confirmation then
relaxed under the blanket.

He stroked her thighs. With each stroke his
hand got closer to her core where wet delights awaited. She spread
her thighs in welcome, flapping the blanket so it hid their
movements for which he was grateful. It would hide his tenting
action.

“Thanks sweetheart.”

Anabelle grinned, her eyes sparkled in the
dim lights and at once he felt like he’d been sucker punched.

“Derek?”

He grabbed her hand and held it in his. He
loved
this woman. He’d known it for a long time but the need
to claim her and make it official overwhelmed him.

The ring he’d been carrying around for days
burned in his pocket. Though it was early in their relationship he
knew with a certainty, she was
the one
. It had taken time to
convince her and for a while he’d been afraid, but she’d come
around. The original plan had been to wait for Christmas and
present the ring along with the model he’d slaved over but since
that wasn’t happening, why wait?

The current trend was to make a big splash
and possibly incorporate a song and dance before climaxing into a
public proposal, but no one wanted to hear him sing. And never mind
a choreographed number. He’d only mastered slow dancing for the
sole pleasure of holding a woman close. If he tried anything more
complicated, he was afraid the romantic moment would be lost if his
girl was literally rolling on the floor laughing.

“Are you okay?” Anabelle asked and he cleared
his throat. He glanced at the television and saw the McCallister
family running like maniacs through a Parisian airport worried
about Kevin being home alone.

“Anabelle.” His voice came out funny so he
tried again. “Anabelle.”

“Yes?” she whispered presumably in case Dylan
woke up. From the sounds coming from his sister, she was into deep
sleep mode.

“You know I love you, don’t you?”

“I do. And I love you, too.”

The temperature in the room was scorching and
he fanned his t-shirt for circulation. This wasn’t going how he
planned it but he knew he couldn’t wait. He shoved the blanket away
and slid to one knee in front of her. He pulled out the ring that
burned through his jeans.

“Oh my God.” She said at the sight of the
two-carat vintage set platinum ring he’d bought.

“I sincerely hope that was a good ‘oh my
God’.”

Her beautiful eyes glazed with tears and she
fanned herself with both hands so he figured he was on the right
track. He wished she’d fan him a little bit. He was hot as
hell.

“Anabelle Magdalene Broussard, you are my
moon and my stars and the reason I fall asleep with a smile every
night. I’ve spent the last year salivating and admiring you from
afar, wishing you were mine with every beat of my heart. At last,
you deigned to notice my presence and have since made me the
happiest of men. Will you please continue bestowing happiness and
consent to be my wife?”

The bouncing bundle of excitement that was
Anabelle launched at him and they fell in a tangled heap on the
rug.

“Yes. Yes. Yes.” Anabelle rained kisses on
his face, her hair fell like a blanket around them. “A million
times, yes.”

“Thank God.” He closed his eyes for a moment
while happiness and relief filled his body. He grinned up at her,
probably looking like an idiot but he didn’t care. He held her face
in his hands and brushed a kiss on her lips. It was meant to be a
kiss of thanks but one kiss turned into two, then three and in
their excitement, they rolled into the coffee table and knocked
over Dylan’s Christmas ornaments on display.

“Huh? What?” Dylan sat upright, struggling
against the sleep cycle that gripped her.

“She said yes.”

“Yes to what?” Dylan rubbed her eyes and
shuddered.

He held up Anabelle’s finger and slid the
ring on.

“Holy shit balls!” Dylan sat up, shrieking.
Sleep was forgotten.

A thunderous sound of running feet down the
stair treads ended with Dani and Joe sliding to a stop inside the
room while three little monsters crashed into their backs.

“What’s going on?”

“She said yes.”

Alex, Esme and even the cool preteen Janie,
jumped up and down in a happy dancing circle.

“I knew it!” Alex said, looking in triumph
towards Dani and Joe who both shrugged.

“You called it.”

Before he could question their strange
conversation, Dylan distracted him with a champagne bottle.

“Open it! I’ve been saving it for just this
sort of occasion. Call it intuition but I even bought some apple
juice ‘champagne’ for the under aged set.”

“Yay!”

Derek smoothed the tabletop he’d spent the
morning working on. The reclaimed piece was part of a Christmas
rush order. His client’s wife was a big fan and Henry Thibodeux had
paid good money for Derek to complete the console table in time for
Christmas.

There was no way to fix Anabelle’s model in
time but he’d find something. She’d given him the best present last
night. He knew he wore a goofy grin but it couldn’t be helped.

“Hey man, got a minute?”

“What’s up?”

“By the way, congrats again. It’s all over
Facebook. Someone posted it on the Sugar Bay home page.”

“Yeah, I know. I had to silence my phone
today. It was blowing up with well wishes.” He grinned.

“About that though…”

“What’s up?”

“Last night the little girls held an
emergency family meeting.”

“How’s that? I wasn’t invited and hell, Dylan
was snoring right next to us for most of the movie.”

“Yeah…well. It was about you and
Anabelle.”

“Go on.”

“Esme and Alex got the idea that they needed
to make up for the foiled dream house model.”

“It was an accident and mainly my fault for
not putting it away.”

Joe shrugged. “The girls feel pretty bad so
they’ve come up with a plan.”

“And you and Dani are helping them?”

“Yep.”

“Should I be worried?”

“At first I was worried on your behalf but
now, I think you may, actually, like it.”

Derek waited for his friend to get to the
point.

“The girls are planning your wedding, man.”
Joe said with a shrug.

“Come again?” He must not have understood Joe
correctly.

“The girls are planning a Christmas eve
wedding for you and Anabelle.”

“How’s that? Weddings take forever to
plan.”

“I
know
that but it’s sort of hard
stopping them. They’re pretty cute in their earnestness to do it.
They gave me a checklist of things I need to get done and it’s
pretty complete, as far as I can tell. But before I get on it and
follow their bidding, no matter how sweet their intentions, I
wanted to clear it with you. It’s your big day, man. Yours and
Anabelle’s.”

Derek wasn’t really surprised. His nieces had
always been super smart and full of bright ideas. They certainly
picked the right assistants for their plan. Dani was genius smart
and Joe was a man of action. He got things done.

“Anabelle already went through the fancy
wedding her first time around, and from the brief bits we’ve
discussed, she wants our wedding to be low key. So I’m thinking
whatever the girls plan will be perfect.”