“I’m definitely having a Christmas wedding. One with reindeers and soldiers,” Greyson said from beside her. “This is so cool.”
Deciding she should probably start saving her money now, Morgan smiled.
“Let’s go find your grandmother,” Grampy said. “I need to tell her that even with eleven pipers piping and ten lords a-leaping on her dress, she looks beautiful, and makes three hundred and sixty-five days a year feel like Christmas, not just twelve.”
“Ah, that’s sweet, Grampy,” Morgan said, kissing her grandfather’s cheek. “She’ll love you saying so.”
So rather than head directly to the make-shift sleigh wagon, Morgan and Greyson went with Grampy to find the Butterflies to tell them all how beautiful they looked. From the neck up, at any rate.
“George, do you mind staying here for a few minutes?” Grammy asked. “I’m going to ask the photographer if he’ll shoot a few shots of you and me together.”
Morgan looked around for Andrew but didn’t spot him anywhere at the ceremony area. Had he already headed to the reception? She and Greyson headed that way, too. It was a quick five-minute wagon ride.
Inside the barn, more elves waited to dry their footwear and take their outerwear and the backpack of extra clothes they’d been advised to bring for playing in the snow after the nuptials. A girl elf with a black marker wrote their names on a large white plastic bag, then took it to hang it by its tie straps alphabetically with the other bags.
Holding Greyson’s hand, Morgan walked into the barn, her breath catching at the magic of the large open room. The scent of pine and Christmas filled the air. There must’ve been some type of fragrance being pumped in, since Morgan couldn’t imagine the live pine trees at the front of the barn generating that much of a scent. Whatever was causing it, it smelled heavenly.
“Can we stay and have Santa visit us here tonight? I don’t ever want to leave,” Greyson exclaimed, looking around the room that had been set up with gorgeous Christmas table settings, including a centerpiece consisting of a wrapped present with huge ribbons alternating in colors of red and gold. On each place setting was a name card.
“Morgan?” Sophie called from a nearby table. “You’re over here with Cole and me. Hi, Greyson!”
“Wow, Sophie. You guys look amazing,” Morgan told her cousin and Cole. She’d seen them outdoors, but they’d all had their coats and blankets covering their ‘ugly sweaters.’ Sophie had taken plain red sweaters and embellished them with tinsel on the shoulders. Cole’s had a large Santa on the front, and Sophie’s had Mrs. Claus. Both wore Santa hats. “You, too, Isabelle,” she told her cousin who sat next to Sophie.
Isabelle glanced down and shook her head, the movement causing the tiny bells on her sweater to jingle. “Who ever heard of an ugly Christmas sweater wedding theme? Leave it to Rosie.”
“I think it’s fun,” Sarah said from where she sat on the opposite side of the table. “Bodie and I sure had a great time coming up with what we were going to wear. He’s the cutest reindeer ever.”
His arm protectively draped across the back of her chair with his hand on her shoulder, Bodie just smiled indulgently at his wife, whose pregnancy was just starting to show.
“I like your antlers, Mrs. Sarah,” Greyson piped up, pointing to her headband. “You’re a cute reindeer, too. Did you see Ralphie?”
“Thank you, Greyson. I did get to see Ralphie. It’s so great you helped get those reindeer for Santa to borrow for Rosie’s wedding today. Today has been magical,” Sarah said echoing Morgan’s thoughts. “A perfect wedding day, Christmas eve, and anniversary eve.”
“Happy one year anniversary eve,” Sophie said, smiling at the blissfully happy couple.
Morgan felt a pang of envy. Once upon a time, she’d been that happy.
A realization hit her. She was that happy.
Perhaps not the “I’m so in love and loved back” relationship kind of happy, but she was happy. Really, truly happy. Glancing down at Greyson, at where he was checking out the present that had been in her chair, she acknowledged that he was happy, too, and not just because Brynne had given him a candy cane, although that had been the topic of conversation the entire ride over to the barn.
This was what she had wanted. To give Greyson his best Christmas ever. To make Christmas magical for him. Now her biggest worry was how to ever have another Christmas to compare to the magic of this one.
“Andrew!” Greyson dropped the present onto the table, rushed over to where Andrew was returning to the table with a drink in his hand. Greyson wrapped his arms around Andrew’s waist and squeezed him in the biggest hug.
“Hey, bud.” Sitting his drink on the table, Andrew knelt and hugged him back.
Morgan’s breath caught. She’d been fighting to keep her gaze from searching out Andrew because she knew once she let her eyes feast on him, they weren’t going to want to go elsewhere. She’d been right. But why would she want to look anywhere else when she could be watching that hug? That was a real hug. An I’ve missed you hug. An I care about you hug. An I don’t want to let go hug. A hug like she wanted to give him. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and feel life surging through him with his strong heartbeat against her cheek.
“Nice snowman sweater,” Andrew said, avoiding looking in her direction as he pulled back to take in Greyson’s outfit.
Greyson proudly glanced down at his snowman sweater and grinned. “It’s like the one we made on the mountain. Your sweater has Dalmatians. I like that, but not the pink.” Which caused Andrew to laugh. “Someday I’m going to have a dog. Maybe a Dalmatian, but Brynne has Lab puppies and says I need one ’cause they need a good home and I have a good home.”
Morgan’s heart swelled. He did have a good home. A home filled with love. And as long as they had each other, that would always be the case.
“Lab puppies, huh?” Andrew said. “Maybe Chief can be talked into a Lab, but since they chew on things a lot when they’re little, I’m not sure he’d let one be around the fire hall until it was older and trained not to chew.”
While Andrew and Greyson talked, she took in how handsome he was in his jeans and ridiculous pink sweater with Dalmatians in Santa hats, fire hydrants with wreaths on them, and fire trucks decorated with Christmas lights.
