Hannah grabbed her arm and held her in place.
“No. I don’t want a cookie. I want you to talk to me. What is it, Hol? You haven’t been yourself all night. Was it tough to see Troy and Brittany at the wedding?”
At this, a tear did spill out as her sister’s question reminded her of the other major stress in her life right now. The one she should be focusing on.
Her entire world felt like it was falling apart right now, which sounded ridiculously melodramatic.
“I’m sorry. I’m just emotional today.” This part she could at least talk to her sister about. “Troy and Brittany want Lydia to spend tomorrow night with them at the Moore’s.”
Hannah’s jaw sagged and she looked as indignant as if Holly had just told her all Christmas carols had been outlawed within the boundaries of Shelter Springs.
“No, they do not.”
“I’m afraid they do.”
“It’s Christmas Eve! She should sleep in her own bed. I hope you told them to go straight to hell. And send us a Christmas card when they get there.”
She gave a watery sniffle. “No. I texted them both today and told them yes.”
Hannah stared. “Why would you do something stupid like that? Text them back right now and tell them you changed your mind. I’ll do it, if you won’t.”
Only her twin sister would call her stupid in one breath and offer to have her back in the next.
She had wrestled with the decision for two days. She still wasn’t sure she had made the right choice, but it was done now.
“It’s only one night. I’ll have her most of Christmas Day.”
Hannah looked like she was brimming over with a million objections. She must have seen the distress in Holly’s expression, though, because she snapped her mouth shut and after a pause she reached out and hugged her instead.
“Have you told Mom and Dad?” she said after a long moment. “We were all planning to head over to your place Christmas morning to watch our Lyd open her gifts.”
“I haven’t told them yet,” she admitted. She dreaded telling their parents and their brothers. “I’ll go to Mom and Dad’s on Christmas Eve for dinner, as usual. And you can all still come over to Rose Cottage for breakfast. It will be just like always, except Lydia won’t be there.”
“What about her gifts from Santa?”
She didn’t meet Hannah’s gaze. “Since they weren’t expecting to have her overnight until I finally agreed this afternoon, they only have a few gifts for her, so Troy asked if I could send along her gifts from Santa.”
Hot color rose on Hannah’s cheeks. “Let me get this straight. That man not only wants to take your child away from her mother for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, but now he wants to give her the gifts you bought her as well.”
“Not all of them. I’ll keep a few so she can open them Christmas afternoon, after she comes home.”
Her sister’s hands curled into fists.
“That man. I would like to haul him out to the middle of Lake Haven and drop him in. Ash and Micah would help us in a heartbeat.”
She had no doubt of that at all. Their older brothers had made no secret that they despised her ex-husband. The two of them were formidable. They would have no qualms enacting any kind of vengeance Holly and Hannah could devise.
She had often thought it was a good thing Troy had moved out of town after their divorce. Either or both of her brothers would probably have ended up in jail for assault, if he hadn’t made himself scarce.
“Troy is her father, Han. And he wants to have more of a role in her life. I’ve spent two years resenting that he basically abandoned her. How can I object now, when he’s trying to make amends?”
She never wanted Lydia to become a bargaining chip between them. Her daughter didn’t deserve that. With all her other challenges, she had to know both of her parents loved her. Holly couldn’t stand in the way of Troy’s fumbling efforts to be the father he should have been all along.
That had been the deciding factor. As hard and painful as she found it, Holly knew she had to be the bigger person.
“Oh, honey.”
Her sister wrapped her arms around her again and Holly, utterly miserable, despite knowing it was the right choice, choked back a sob.
