She batted her eyes up at him, and almost sounded like a young girl when she said, "If I were younger, I'd have been after you myself."
"Gram!" Nelly said. "I couldn't let you have him. He's mine."
The ladies argued a bit over him, as they walked to his truck. He had told Nelly he would be there in the morning so that he could drive them to his family's house where everyone would be gathered by eight o'clock to spend Christmas morning together. They'd be eating breakfast, working on making a meal, and teasing each other about gifts. They'd probably even open them too, although that wouldn't really be the focus of the morning. They'd read the Bible story together out of Luke, and sing carols, play games and be together.
He loved their Christmas morning traditions, and was excited to be able to share them with Nelly.
She and her gram fit right in as his family arrived shortly after they did.
His sisters welcomed Nelly with open arms, and even Isadora, who had a lingering sadness around her eyes, seemed exceptionally cheerful.
The kids running around made it a happy chaos, and the idea that there would be more babies next year added to the anticipatory feeling in the air.
But, Roland's eyes were mostly on his mother. She seemed... happy. Totally at peace. Even joyful.
Meanwhile, in his mind, he was thinking this could be the last Christmas they all spent together with her. He wanted everyone to know, so they could savor it as he was, but she had specifically asked for no one to be told, and he had honored that promise. He hadn't even told Nelly, although he wished he could have. He wanted her to tuck these memories of his mother away. They were important to him, and he thought that Nelly respected her as much as he did.
Still, the atmosphere was joyous and celebratory and they had a great time, eating and singing, and opening gifts and playing games and just fellowshipping with each other.
Nelly glowed. His mother had hinted that maybe it was the glow of a woman in love, and Nelly had agreed wholeheartedly.
He thought it was just the way she always looked.
Later, after the celebration, and they had eaten their meal and cleaned up the dishes and played more games, Gram seemed to be nodding off on the couch, and he leaned over and suggested to Nelly reluctantly that maybe they should take her home so she could nap.
Nelly seemed just as reluctant as he to say farewell to everyone, but they did so in short order and indeed once they got home, Gram went straight to bed.
Which was fine with Roland, because as much as he loved the boisterous atmosphere of his whole family being together, he enjoyed sitting on the couch with his arm around Nelly, her pressed to his side, as they talked about everything and nothing at all and somehow they both seemed to assume that their relationship was going to end in marriage. He knew that was what he intended, but it was gratifying to know Nelly felt the same.
"Do you think we'll be able to continue to do the Secret Saint once we're married?"
"Of course," he said easily and then he paused. "But... Maybe it would be a good idea to try to hand it off to someone. Just in case..."
"We have children?" Nelly finished and while her cheeks reddened a little, she didn't look embarrassed. "I do want kids. Lots of them. Maybe ten."
"I think we need to draw the line at six," he said, not really caring whether they had six or ten or twenty, if that's what Nelly wanted.
"Regardless, it might be hard to continue the Secret Saint activities with a growing family."
"I agree completely. We should probably be looking for someone to pass the baton to." He didn't think there was any rush, although he did have a small box in his pocket, and he had been considering asking her a question all day. On one hand, he thought it might be premature, on the other, he was pretty sure he knew her answer. After all, they were talking about marriage and children. And neither one of them were dating to mess around. They were dating with the intention of getting married.
"I have a friend who might be taking the a position at the school here in Mistletoe Meadows. She's unmarried, and with her position as counselor, she would have access to all kinds of great information, even if there was some she couldn’t share for privacy reasons.Still, I think she would be a good candidate to consider."
"She sounds perfect."
"Do you think we should try to find a man to do it with her?"
"I know that having you do the Secret Saint with me made a big difference for me."
"Same. There were so many things I wanted to do, but couldn't, and we were able to pool our resources and do so much more together than we could do apart."
He thought about marriage. Wasn't that what that was? Two people coming together and becoming more than the sum of the two of them. They made each other better, they encouraged and helped the other person achieve more than they would have been able toachieve on their own. Those were just some of the many benefits of marriage.
Secret Saint partnerships were not exactly like marriage, but... it worked the same way. People became more than the sum of themselves alone.
"I definitely think that's something to think about. But we have to make sure that we get two people who are compatible. If...if we had known who the other was at first, we might not have gotten along so well."
"That's true," she said with a laugh. "I can't believe I ever thought anything bad about you. You've totally changed my opinion and without even trying to."
