Happily This Christmas (Happily Inc #6) - Susan Mallery Page 0,77
Hunter to help him get the tree into the stand before heading to the garage and carrying in the last of the bins. Joylyn followed her.
“I’m not going to be much help,” she said, patting her belly. “I’m not sure I can get close enough to hang anything.”
Wynn pointed to the sofa. “Why don’t you keep me company while I decorate?”
“I wouldn’t want to get in the way of your traditions with Hunter.”
Wynn shook her head. “You won’t. He likes putting on the lights, but after about five minutes of hanging ornaments, he wanders away.”
“Oh, okay, then sure. I’d like to stay.”
She settled on the sofa. Wynn had just pulled out the various strings of lights when Garrick and Hunter walked in.
“Our tree is in its stand,” Garrick said. “We’re here for light duty.”
“Because putting on the lights is man work?”
“Of course. Decorating is more a woman thing.”
She put her hands on her hips. “It’s Saturday. There’s no professional football on today.”
Hunter shifted his feet. “There’s a great college game on, Mom. It’s the end of the season so who wins is important.”
Wynn glanced at Joylyn. “Too bad you’re having a boy.”
Joylyn laughed. “I can see that it might be a problem.”
The guys made quick work of the lights. Garrick plugged in each string to make sure it was working, then he and Hunter wound them around the tree. They all squinted at the finished product and declared the lights were even, then the two of them disappeared next door to do the same to Garrick’s tree.
Wynn turned on Christmas music, made hot chocolate for herself and Joylyn, then put out a plate of cookies before opening the bins and studying the contents.
“I still have all the ornaments Hunter made for me in school,” she said. “Some of them are pretty fragile. Last year I freshened all the glue so they would last a few more years.”
Joylyn picked up a star made of popsicle sticks and glitter. “You must love these.”
“I do. They’re silly, but so special.”
She sat on the floor and started pulling out other ornaments. “I have a few from my mom.” She held up a wishing well ornament. “She said as long as we could make wishes, it was going to be a good Christmas.”
“When did she pass away?”
“While I was pregnant with Hunter.”
Joylyn’s eyes widened. “You were young.”
“I was. She was living in Alaska at the time.” Wynn remembered her mother telling her she was moving. “She believed she needed a man in her life to be happy. When I was little, she told me I had to be pretty in order to win my handsome prince.”
“Shouldn’t the message be more about studying hard and making something of yourself?”
Wynn smiled at her. “You’d think, but no. While I was growing up we had a neighbor, Ms. James. She was a schoolteacher who had never married. She always talked to me about going to college and being successful. My mom said Ms. James hadn’t amounted to anything because she never had a man in her life. It was confusing.”
She unwrapped several ornaments before finding the one she was looking for. She put the sparrow in its nest ornament on the palm of her hand.
“Ms. James gave me this one year. It’s supposed to remind me that if I want to get anywhere, I need to spread my wings.”
“I love it when ornaments tell a story,” Joylyn said. “My dad and I had a different themed tree every year. I wonder if he kept the ornaments we collected together. He said he did.” Her tone was wistful.
“When we’re done here, we’ll go over to your place and find out.”
“You don’t have to decorate our tree as well as yours.”
Wynn stood. “It’s not difficult work.”
With carols playing in the background, she and Joylyn chatted about Holly’s wedding and Joylyn’s upcoming birthing class. Wynn decorated the tree, filling up the branches with happy Santas and red and gold stars. She hung two boxes of ornaments that looked like icicles before finishing with the decorations Hunter had made for her. When she was done, she stood back and admired her work.
“I like it,” she said. “When Hunter gets back, I’ll have him push the tree closer to the window.” She grinned at Joylyn. “Teenage boys don’t mind grubbing around on the ground, so that’s a plus.”
“I’ll look forward to that.”
She struggled to her feet, then rubbed her back. “I am counting the days until this baby is born.”