Twas The Knight Before Christmas (Something Great Series) (2 page)

Chapter 3

Jenna

“They’re here,” I exclaimed. “I’ll get the door.” I opened the door to see Becky and her family. “Becky, Matthew, Addy, Mason,” I said, greeting each of them with hugs and kisses, and then they exchanged hugs with each member of our family. Even Max and Matthew gave each other a manly hug. While the husbands headed to the family room, the children ran upstairs to the play area.

“So, you’re ready?” Becky looked so excited.

“Yup. Let’s get them settled. I’ll drive.” I went to the kitchen to check that I’d turned off the stove, made sure the refrigerator was closed, and then I stared at my kids in the family room to see if I’d forgotten anything. The children had run downstairs after picking out
Star Wars
lightsabers from the toy chest and were pretending to battle each other.

“Jenna,” Max said, massaging my shoulders. “You can go now. I’m not going to eat our children.”

I laughed and so did Matthew and Becky. “I know. You’re going to be okay with Cassie, right?”

“Actually, I’m going to take her to my mom’s house so that I can run around with the boys. If we end up going to Chuck E. Cheese or the park, you know I’m going to have to be right on their tails. But if we end up staying home, don’t worry, she’ll be fine.”

I nodded, relaxing into Max as I took a deep breath. It wasn’t like I’d never left the kids with him before. Maybe all the stress was getting to me. “She’ll be waking up from her morning nap soon. You’ll keep the monitor close to you, right?”

Cassie had woken up when we were having breakfast, but had fallen asleep again shortly afterward. Hopefully she wasn’t getting sick. I couldn’t help worrying that something was going to happen.

“Of course.” Max let go, pivoted me around for a moment, and kissed my lips. He then tapped my butt to push me onward.

“After Jenna leaves, can you massage me, big brother, and touch my ass?” Matthew asked, using a childish tone. He was sitting on the sofa next to Becky with his legs slightly apart.

“Hell no,” Max chuckled, looking at Cassie’s monitor on our granite countertop.

Becky and I laughed.

Becky got up and grabbed her Louis Vuitton purse next to the sofa. “Come on, Jenna, before Matthew gets jealous of Manna.”

“Who?”

“You know how you blend the names together by putting the guy’s initial in place of the first letter of the woman’s name?”

“Yes, I know,” I said matter-of-factly. “I just never thought to combine our names together.” Then I looked at Max and smiled. “I like that.” I turned to Becky. “Macky,” I giggled. “I like that.”

Becky shook her head with a laugh. “You’re so darn cute.”

“Macky?” Matthew furrowed his brows, seemingly unhappy with the way it sounded. “How about Betthew and Jexwell?” He let out a hearty laugh.

We all had a good laugh. Becky cut the conversation short by picking up my black Chanel purse for me, placing her hands on my shoulders, and leading me toward the garage.

“Bye, boys,” she said.

“Manna. Macky. That’s so funny,” I repeated and laughed to myself until I got in the car. “Where to?” I asked, turning on the engine and pushing the remote to open the garage door.

“Need to shop for kids’ stuff?” Becky clicked her seatbelt to lock it and I did mine.

“Yup,” I said, putting the car into reverse and backing out of the driveway.

“Toys ‘R’ Us?” She checked her phone and laughed.

“Sure. Want to shop first before we have lunch?” I asked. Since we’d had a late breakfast I wasn’t that hungry.

“Sounds good to me.”

I cruised down the street, glancing at Becky. “What are you smiling at?”

She shook her head with a grin. “It’s Matthew. He texted me to say he missed me already.”

“Awww,” I gushed.

Becky scrolled down the screen of her phone a bit. “Then he said to get something for him at Victoria’s Secret.”

I smiled. My phone beeped with the sound of a text coming through. I reached inside my purse that was set beside me and handed my cell to Becky. “Can you see if that’s important?”

Becky clicked it on. “It’s from Max. He texted, ‘Have a good time. TKLS!’” Her lips curled into a smirk and there was a spark of remembrance in her eyes. “I remember what that means.”

“No, you don’t.” I tried to hide my flushed face, but Becky knew me all too well. I signaled, looked over my shoulder, and then turned left. “You’re going to the Knight Fashion Christmas party, right?”

Becky put away her cell in her purse. “Matthew wants me to go. Since Rachel and you will be there, and to support not just my husband, but my two brothers-in-law, Max and Jax, I’ve decided to go.”

“That’s sweet of you. I’m glad you’re going.” I paused for a second and said, “Jachel.”

“Huh?” Becky pinched her brows together, looking confused.

“Rachel and Jackson.” It was all I had to say.

“Oh.” She laughed. “I get it now. Jachel. But that really sounded funny.”

I nodded to agree. “It kind of does.” I laughed again.

“In the new year, we’re going to start Addy with piano lessons,” Becky changed the subject. “She’s already in little league soccer and art lessons. Our schedule is going to be crazy soon. I’m sure Mason will want to do something too, or at least we should expose him to children his own age.”

I agreed. “Yeah, Max wants Connor and Christopher to take karate lessons on top of their soccer. We want to start exposing Connor to an instrument soon as well. He seems interested in guitar, but we’ll see.”

As we chatted about our busy schedule at work, we reached our destination. After I parked, we headed inside to grab carts.

“Can you believe we’re at a toy store instead of shopping for us?” Becky shook her head. “I can’t believe how fast time has gone by. We’re both married and have children. Not only that, I still can’t believe we married the brothers and have the same cool parents-in-law. I would die if I couldn’t get along with my in-laws.”

I checked the aisles and headed toward the
Star Wars
section. “I know what you mean. Some of my coworkers talk about their in-laws, and I feel so sorry for them.”

“Yeah.” Becky agreed sympathetically and then pointed. “Look at all this
Star Wars
stuff.”

“I can’t believe Addy likes it too. I think it’s so cool that she does. She’s not just a girly-girl, but she can act like a kick-butt girl, you know what I mean? I think she takes after her mother.”

Becky examined a
Star Wars
Lego set and placed it back. “Ain’t nothing wrong with being a kick-ass girl. She won’t take shit from anyone, except her parents and family. I have to admit; I was surprised by how much she liked the movie. After that, Matthew watched all the other movies in the series with her. She loved those too.”

I pulled out a Millennium Falcon gift set and realized Connor and Christopher each had one already, so I placed them back. “Yeah, Connor does too, but I’m not sure if Christopher is just following in his brother’s footsteps or he is genuinely into them. He copies everything that Connor does.”

Becky and I glanced down the shelves, then gazed at the next ones, unable to pick anything to purchase. The boys had so many
Star Wars
toys already.

“I guess that’s to be expected,” Becky said. “Rachel did that when we were young. She even tried to dress like me, speak like me, and she followed me everywhere.”

“I wouldn’t know,” I said softly. “Growing up I always wanted a sibling, as you already know. My mother couldn’t have any more children after me.
And
it took her a while to conceive me. She had many miscarriages. I gave birth to three beautiful healthy children. I feel so lucky.”

Becky placed her hand on mine. “I know what you mean. I wasn’t even supposed to have carried Addy to full term. They said it was either her or me, but we both made it through.”

“I know.” I caressed her arm. “She’s a miracle.”

“Look at us.” She sniffled a little. “We’re surrounded by toys and unable to pick anything. Our kids are so spoiled, and we have tears in our eyes as we talk about them.”

I smiled. “I know. This was supposed to be our day. But I think after you become a mother, your time can never fully be your own because deep down you know your kids come first in your heart, soul, and mind.”

“So true,” Becky agreed. “And they’re spoiled as heck. I don’t remember having half the toys Addy has.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” I shook my head, thinking how overindulged they were.

Becky leaned closer. “Want to know a secret? Sometimes I buy the toys for Addy that I want to play with.”

I laughed softly, because I knew exactly what she meant. “Yeah, me too. Do you need to stop by the book section? I need something to read.”

“Sure, why not? Even though I read for a living, browsing for books still made me happy. Maybe they’ve stocked one of my authors. Besides, our kids already have everything in this aisle. Let’s go.”

When we got there, I asked, “Do you ever wonder what your life would have been like if you’d never married Matthew?”

Becky picked out a book that had a cover with a flower on it. “Yes. Don’t you with Max?” She didn’t wait for my answer and spoke, “
The New Beginning
. This looks like a good book.” She handed it to me. “Oh, sorry. Anyway, don’t you?”

I took it from her, felt the softness of the cover, and sniffed the scent of the

fresh book. “Yup, I did. I would probably have married Luke.” Becky made a gagging face. I stuck out my tongue. “We’d probably have about two children. I would love them, but I wouldn’t have been deeply in love with him, if you know what I mean. He’d probably have cheated on me, and then maybe I would have found Max later. You know what they say—soul mates have a way of finding each other. How about you?”

Becky picked up another book with the cover showing a man holding a woman in an intimate way. She turned the pages. “You know my history with men. I would have probably married an asshole. And I most likely would have cheated on him. Maybe no kids. I only liked the idea of kids after I fell in love with Matthew, but knowing I couldn’t—well, more like I shouldn’t because of my kidneys.” She placed the book back and continued, “So to sum up our lives, they would have sucked. So I’m thankful for how my life has turned out so far. And I need to thank you, ‘cause if you hadn’t given Max a chance, I might have never met Matthew.”

I shook my head while my lips curled crookedly. “I don’t know…you know how I feel about fate? He would have found you eventually, that’s my theory.”

“I hope so,” she said softly. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.” Becky grabbed her cart.

“Wait. I’ve been eyeing this cover.” I picked up a book. The cover art intrigued me. It was a picture of a young girl running in the forest.

“You’re one of those.” She dragged out her words.

I looked at her confusedly. “One of those?”

She took the book from my hand and placed it in my cart. “You’re a cover whore.” Then she pushed her cart forward.

“What?” I laughed, catching up to her. “Never heard of that before.”

“It’s okay. I’m one too.” She winked. “Let’s go get some lunch and take care of us.” Becky weaved the cart into the long line.

“Right behind you,” I replied, wishing we had a “go to the front of the line” pass.

Chapter 4

Becky

After we had eaten, we decided to go to the mall. Being that there were only two weeks left till Christmas, I realized I needed to get on with my shopping.

“What’s going on now?” Jenna asked, picking up a red cashmere sweater in Nordstrom.

I was scrolling through my phone again instead of helping her pick out a gift for her mom. “Guess who it is?”

“Matthew again?” she laughed softly, looking at a lavender one this time.

“He’s asking when we’re coming home.”

“Tell him never.” She placed the sweater in front of her. “Small or medium for my mom? What do you think?”

I texted Matthew back:
Jenna said never
. “I think medium. Only because I think when you get older, you like to wear things a little bit baggier. My mom used to wear medium, but sometimes she buys a larger size.”

“I suppose you’re right,” she agreed, and placed it over her shoulder. “It’s so hard to buy gifts for our family and friends that have everything.”

“I know, right?” I picked up the phone, hearing the buzz of it vibrating in my bag. “What are you getting Max for Christmas?” I asked and then looked down at the text message from Matthew.

Matthew:
Tell Jenna I’m going to kidnap Max and her children and she’ll never see them again.

Me:
Why do you need me home soon?
I thought you gave me the day off so I can catch up with Jenna and go shopping
.

Matthew:
You’ve been gone all day. I miss you.

I laughed to myself and texted:
I’ve only been gone for three hours
.

Matthew:
It’s been 3 1/2.

I snorted:
You’re counting?

Matthew:
No.

Me:
Yes, you are. Stop being a big baby. I promise to take care of you when the kids are in bed
.

Matthew:
Did you go shopping at Victoria’s Secret?

Me:
I was on my way there, but I can come home now
.

Matthew:
Have fun. Max said he’ll order dinner. Sound good?

Me:
Sounds awesome
.

I finally looked up and saw Jenna staring at me. “Max texted me to let me know he was going to order dinner for us. I assume you already know.”

I pointed at my cell. “Just found out.”

“Good. Then we can shop some more.” Jenna took my phone to text Matthew. As she texted, she showed me the words that her fingers were typing away.

Matthew, this is Jenna. I’ve just kidnapped Becky’s phone. If you want to talk to her, please text me instead. And by the way, if you kidnap Max and my children, hell knows no fury like a mother and wife scorned. Just a friendly warning, brother-in-law. You think you know Jenna? You haven’t seen anything yet.

I busted out laughing. Never did I imagine Jenna would playfully give it to Matthew. “When did you become so evil?”

Jenna placed our phones inside her purse. She wasn’t kidding. “When I became a mother.” She paused and then added, “And when I started working with my brother-in-law.” She laughed. “I’m just joking. He’s wonderful, but he’s a big fat baby when he’s home with you. I have to admit Max can be that way as well. I think men are in general, don’t you?”

I hooked my arm in hers and led her to the scarf and glove department. “Oh, there’s no doubt about that, Jenna, but they are definitely not babies when we need them.”

After we picked out some scarves and gloves for gifts, we headed upstairs to the women’s clothing section. This coming Saturday was the Knight Fashion annual Christmas party. Though I had a closet filled with a plethora of dresses, it never hurt to have one more.

“Do you have a dress picked out for the ball?” I asked, rummaging through racks of designer gowns.

Jenna placed her shopping bags down and picked out a dress to show me. “I had one months ago. I saw it online. Well, Max helped me pick it out. It’s red with spaghetti straps, form fitted down to the waist, and flares out like a princess gown.”

“No.” I shook my head to let her know I didn’t like the one she was holding. “Your dress sounds beautiful.”

“Thank you,” she said, moving on to the next dress.

“Not bad.” I took the dress from her. It was a lavender and white strapless that flared out like any other ball dress. I looked at the tag for the size. “It’s my size. Perfect. I’ll buy it.”

“You don’t want to try it on?” Jenna asked, almost frowning. “What if you don’t like the way it fits?”

I fanned my hand at her. “It will be fine. I’m too lazy to try it. We’re here to shop for Christmas, not for my dress. If it doesn’t fit, I’ll come back and return it. Besides, I have plenty of dresses at home.” With that, I headed to the cashier.

“Oh, wait, before I forget”—Jenna gripped my arm after a few steps— “did you get the text from Nicole? She wants to have a Christmas lunch exchange next Monday. You didn’t respond to her text. I told her that I couldn’t make it.”

“Oh crap.
I forgot. I meant to. I think we’ll have to wait till after Christmas. Okay. I will text her. Let me do it now.” I held out my hand.

Jenna shook her head with a mischievous grin. “No way. I’ve kidnapped your cell. You can text when we get in the car.”

My eyes widened in surprise and my jaw dropped. “You’re serious, aren’t you?” I let out a snort.

“Yes, I am. And you know what else? You know how Max and Matt love
Star Wars?
Well, I have the perfect Christmas gift for them. Want to see?”

My lips curled slowly, humored by Jenna and wondering what she had in mind. “Sure.”

She opened her phone and showed it to me. “What do you think?”

“Oh my, Jenna. I think they’re going to love it. Let’s order it right now.”

Jenna’s smile was contagious. She pushed some buttons on the phone and looked at me. “Done. You’ll receive it at your doorstep just before Christmas.”

“Perfect. Thanks.” I smiled, enjoying the humor between us and this little devil that Jenna was becoming. After we had shopped some more, it was time to go home. Our legs were tired and our credit cards had been used a lot.

By the time we were headed back home, it was almost six. We texted our husbands to let them know we were on our way and to ask them to feed the kids if they were hungry. The traffic was horrendous, and we didn’t know what time we would arrive. Hopefully, Jenna’s house was in one piece. Why wouldn’t it be? I brushed away the thought, telling myself that I was being ridiculous.

“We’re home,” we exclaimed, entering from the garage into the house.

“Yay!” I heard the children screaming. Around the corner they came and hugged Jenna and me, almost knocking us down in the process. Thank goodness for the wall behind us. Jenna’s boys went back to whatever they had been doing and Mason ran after them.

“Did you go anywhere?” I asked Addy. She was helping me with my bags, not that I needed help, but she was sweet that way.

“No, we stayed home,” she answered.

Looking at all the toys on the hardwood floor, there was no sign of a clean house or of Max and Matthew having looked after the kids. I followed the path of toys on the floor to the family room. Jenna’s house was Christmas ready, as I knew it would be. During Thanksgiving at our in-laws’ place, we’d talked about how we would decorate our houses this year.

Jenna’s tree was just as tall as mine, stockings were hung on the fireplace mantel, and poinsettias were aligned along the bottom. The house smelled and looked like Christmas. Even the front of the house was decorated with lights, reindeers were on the roof, and fake snow was on the grass; it looked like Santa’s workshop. Max had outdone himself, but so had Matthew. Though Matthew denied it, I had a feeling those two boys were in a competition to outdo each other, just like they’d done with the locks and keys in Paris. When the City of Paris announced they were tearing down parts of the Pont des Art, also known as the lock and key bridge, Max and Matthew flew there to retrieve the locks they’d left for us. Now ours was displayed in our bedroom, as was Jenna and Max’s in theirs.

“Hey, you’re back,” Matthew said without looking at me.

“Hey, babe,” Max said to Jenna, without looking at her either.

Both of our husbands were engrossed in playing
Star Wars
video games.
Star Wars
toys were everywhere, scattered about the floor. I was afraid to even check out the other rooms. It was as if all the
Star Wars
toys Jenna and I had seen at Toys “R” Us had suddenly appeared in her living room, without the packaging. Jenna’s boys and Mason were sitting on the floor, way too close to the TV, while Cassie was fussing in Max’s lap. When she saw Jenna, she lost it. She started bawling. Poor Cassie, she was still in her PJs. Not that it mattered, but she had endured all the loud noises.

Jenna dropped her bags and immediately picked up Cassie. “Max. Did you feed Cassie?”

“Of course I did, babe,” he replied, without looking at her again.

“Did the kids have dinner?” I asked.

“We had dinner. We left you some,” Matthew answered, his eyes still glued to the screen.

When Jenna took Cassie to the kitchen, I followed, seeing the mess continue to this part of the house. The unfinished plates were on the table, along with open boxes of pizza. And next to them was a closed box of cold pizza, I assumed. I opened it. “Combo. At least it’s what we like.” I shrugged.

Jenna rolled her eyes, took out several slices, and placed them on a plate she had grabbed from the cabinet. She warmed them up in the microwave while she was holding Cassie. I knew she wasn’t crazy mad at all the mess, but as a mother, I understood her frustration. After the microwave beeped to let us know it was ready, Jenna took it out and placed the plate between us. Then she handed me clean paper plates and I set them on the table for us. After she placed a slice on my plate and hers, she sat down to take a bite.

“Dig in.” She smiled. “I was hoping to feed our guests better food, but I guess boys will be boys.” 

“It’s okay, Jenna. We’ve been to your house plenty of times and had the best gourmet food. I’ll help you clean up after we eat.” I never knew how hungry I was until I took the first bite and swallowed.

Jenna poured apple cider in cups and handed one to me. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not as bad as it looks. Besides, we can have everyone pick up a few toys and we’ll be done. That’s plenty of hands. They were having fun, so that’s all that matters. And we got to have our special time together. Our husbands are just used to having the nanny pick up after them. They’re so spoiled. And Cassie is just fine.” She gave Cassie a kiss on the cheek, and she started to fuss again. She handed her a rattling toy from next to the pizza box.

“Cassie looks just like you. Similar facial structure—the shape of your ears, nose, and even your lips.” I looked at her lovingly, recalling when Addy was her age.

Jenna swallowed and picked up her cup to take a sip. “That’s what everyone says.”

I sighed as I took my last bite of pizza.

Jenna eased her shoulders and released a long breath. “Are you tired? ‘Cause I’m beat.”

“Yeah. Shopping is not fun during Christmas time. It feels like busy work,” I added.

Jenna grabbed the container on the counter and filled both our cups with more apple cider. I would have offered to help, but knowing Jenna, she wanted to be the good hostess, which was not necessary. We were family after all.

“I think I’ll do online shopping from now on, at least during the holidays,” I said, enjoying my drink.

“Yeah, me too,” she agreed.

After we ate, I helped her clean up, and we went our separate ways.