Happily This Christmas (Happily Inc #6) - Susan Mallery Page 0,78
month is the most difficult. It’s hard to get comfortable anywhere.”
Wynn carried the mugs and the plate into the kitchen before opening the front door. She and Joylyn walked over to Garrick’s place. Sure enough, the giant TV was tuned to a college football game.
“Hey,” Garrick said, not taking his gaze from the screen. “How did it go?”
“It’s beautiful,” Joylyn told him. “You should go take a look.”
“I will. At halftime.”
Joylyn shook her head. “Dad, it’s just football.”
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”
The game went to a commercial. Hunter sprang to his feet.
“Come on, Garrick. We should go to my place to watch the rest of the game.”
“Why?”
Hunter sighed heavily. “Mom’s going to talk the whole time she’s decorating the tree. She’s going to ask Joylyn about every ornament and tell her stories about when I was a kid.”
Garrick looked at her. “You do that?”
“Every year.”
He and Hunter headed for the front door. “You girls have a good time.”
“Women,” she called after him. “We’re women.”
The door closed behind them.
Wynn walked over to the tree in the corner. It was tall, but stopped a few inches short of the ceiling. The lights were on and a stack of three boxes stood beside it, along with a small gift bag.
She handed the gift bag to Joylyn. “This is for you. I brought it over a few days ago.”
The younger woman looked confused. “Thank you.” She opened the bag, then pressed her free hand to her mouth. “Oh, Wynn.”
She pulled out a small silver ornament. A little bear was sleeping on a quarter moon.
“Baby’s first Christmas,” Wynn told her. “I would have had your son’s name engraved on it, but seeing as you and Chandler haven’t decided, that can be done later. I bought the ornament at a local jewelry store in town. Just have your dad take it in and they’ll engrave it for you.”
Joylyn’s eyes filled with tears. “It’s lovely. Thank you so much.”
She reached for Wynn and held her tight, her belly jammed between them. Wynn felt a strong kick against her midsection and jumped.
“I’d forgotten what that was like,” she said with a laugh. “No wonder you’re tired all the time.”
“He’s very athletic.” She sniffed and looked at the ornament. “Thank you again. This is wonderful.”
“You’re welcome. Now relax on the sofa and I’ll get to work.”
She knelt in front of the boxes, doing her best to appear normal, which was unexpectedly difficult. Equally confusing was the sharp pang of longing that had shot through her when she’d felt Joylyn’s baby move. A longing for more children.
She’d punished herself for so long—for some reason deciding she didn’t deserve a happy relationship or a bigger family. Yes, she’d messed up with Chas, but she’d been wrong to think she should be punished forever. She’d missed out on so much.
Which was not something she should be thinking about right now, she told herself. She opened the first box.
“All right,” she said. “Let’s see what we’ve got here.”
She unwrapped nearly a dozen Barbie ornaments. “Someone had a favorite doll.”
Joylyn laughed. “I know. My poor Dad. We did the tree in Barbie ornaments accented with pink and purple balls.” She leaned back against the sofa. “We even found pink tinsel. I thought it was the most beautiful tree I’d ever seen. I can’t believe he kept those all this time. Oh, one year it was just animal ornaments. Does he still have those?”
Wynn didn’t find any in that box, so she opened the second one.
“I’m seeing really cute animals,” she said, holding up a cow ornament. “Does this look familiar?”
“It does.”
Wynn pulled out an elephant ornament and a little baby lamb with a pink bow. Joylyn clapped her hands.
“He kept them! I can’t believe it. Although I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at all.”
Wynn privately agreed with her. From everything she’d seen, Garrick had been a wonderful father, taking care of his daughter and understanding what was important to her. Despite their time apart, they were reconnecting and it was wonderful to see.
Her hunky neighbor was turning out to be one of the good guys. Wouldn’t it be ironic if the very thing she’d been looking for had been right next door all along?
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
JOYLYN WAITED IMPATIENTLY at the desk in her bedroom. Right on time, her computer beeped to let her know she had an incoming call. Immediately after, Chandler’s face filled her screen.
“Joylyn! How are you feeling? I miss you so much.”