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"Cool. Thank you, Granddad! Will you be my granddad forever?" Mia’s excitement was uncontainable, contagious. Her features became more animated. Everyone in the room lit up and laughed and cheered her on when she spoke.
“Yes, yes, of course, I will,” Jonah said joyfully. He placed his cane at the side, and Cole reached to grab his cane and hold on to his father while Jonah reached out to hold Mia. His father looked blissfully happy, fully alive.
"Careful, Mr. Belmont, she's a little heavy," Hope said politely, watching the old man’s shaky hands.
"Oh, no worries, I'll be fine. She's my granddaughter," Jonah said. His voice was filled with delight and joy. He gave Mia a hug and a squeeze and placed his cheek on her cheek as if savoring the warmth and the touch of love.
Cole felt warm inside. He gloried in this special moment. He had no idea the family would react this way. And he was sure Hope had no idea either. But for Mia’s sake this was the best thing for them. He thought about his little girl in that cold garage where she'd been living with her mom for the past two months. But no more. He had already made arrangements for her new princess bedroom suite to come in soon. He was going to give his daughter the best of everything.
"Mia. My little Mia. Would you like to help Granddad decorate the Christmas tree?"
"Yes!" Mia said excitedly clapping her hands. She gave a little giggle and everybody laughed. "I want to decorate the tree."
"Well, we will definitely do that today. And we’ll do anything else you want to do today."
"Yay!” Mia cheered.
"Cole, if you and Hope don't mind, we would like to spend some time with Mia. We’re going to be decorating the Christmas tree soon. "
"Sure, that would be fine," Hope said lovingly as she looked at Jonah and Mia in an adoring embrace.
“Then it’s settled,” Jonah said beaming.
"Sure, that’ll be great, Dad," Cole added.
Cole’s gaze met Hope’s soft brown eyes for a moment but he tried to contain his feelings. He was truly appreciative that she was going along with this for the sake of the family and for the sake of the Christmas spirit.
"Oh and, Cole, don't you have something to say to the family?" Jonah said with an exaggerated wink. Cole couldn’t help but smile. "Or are you going to tell them later?" A sly grin curled the old man's lips. Cole was at least delighted in the fact that his father was not thinking about his illness for a change.
Cole had originally thought that this would be an intensely sad Christmas, as it could be his father’s last, until Mia and Hope came into the picture. Now his father would get to have a joyous holiday with not only his sons settled down, well, almost all of his sons, but now he had a living grandchild in the equation. What he’d always hoped for, dreamed about.
"Yes, Hope and I have an announcement to make. But first we’re going to go to her apartment to get the rest of her things, right, Hope?"
"Yes, darling," Hope said, playing along. He could sense the awkwardness between them and hoped the family wouldn’t pick up on it, but he tried to brush it off.
"And just what announcement is that?" Leo said walking into the conservatory with a grin and a glass of orange juice in his hand.
"Oh, Leo, there you are," Cole said looking at his younger brother.
"Hope, it's nice to see you again and this must be little Mia." Leo sauntered over to his father and extended his hand to the little girl. “Looks like you got all the good looks from your mom, little one," Leo said playfully. He then gave his brother Cole a look to which Cole responded by rolling his eyes and grinning. The two brothers were close and always teased each other.
It was good everybody was in a festive mood. Soon all the decorations would be going up. And it would begin to feel like the holiday season.
Usually they would have decorations up by the end of November, a full month before Christmas. But nobody was in the mood, until now of course. Children made celebrations so special. So did love at the holiday time. There was nothing like affection and family around Christmastime or any family-based holiday.
Cole was glad now that he’d made the right decision to take a full month off work from the office to spend time with his father and the family. Knowing full well that this could be his father’s very last Christmas.
"Well," Cole said as he stood by Hope’s side. Hope then rose as they hugged each other in front of the family. He felt a surge of heat race to his groin by her magnetic touch. God, it was going to be hard as sin sleeping apart from Hope in the next few weeks.
"Everyone, as you know, Hope and I were engaged a few years ago but we'd spent time apart," he continued, trying to contain his feelings. "But long story short, we’re together again and as you know we have a beautiful child together. We are working things out but we've decided that love is important and so is marriage and we want nothing more than to get married. We want to make our love official."
He had already given Hope the beautiful heart-shaped diamond cut engagement ring a few years ago. While in the car he'd asked Hope if she still had the engagement ring and she said yes. Just like the artificial rose she kept. It looked as if she still held on to things from their relationship. Well, that was a start. So after they discussed the relationship agreement and the marriage contract he had asked her to put on the ring before going into the Belmont Palace so that nobody would suspect a thing that they were not still together. Or that they had not gotten back together for the sake of Mia.
"Congratulations," everybody chimed in with excitement.
"Well, this is a very special day, isn’t it?” Dane added. Dane should know a thing or two about Christmas weddings. His wife, Olivia, was a social worker who had been engaged to get married at the Belmont Hotel downtown but her groom jilted her the night before her Christmas wedding, so he’d stepped in to save face that day for her—and the rest was history. Though they never really got married on Christmas Day, it was one holiday to remember of them getting to know each other and the true meaning of love. Cole was so happy for his brother. Dane was always the one working hard around the clock as the general manager of the flagship hotel.
"It sure is," Brandon chimed in. Cole had already asked Brandon to check into some things for him.
"Thank you," Hope said softly. "It's wonderful to be a part of this amazing family. I know Cole and I have had a difficult time in the past few years but we love each other more than anything.”
He could see Jonah looking very proud and satisfied at the announcement. A smug grin on his face.
Cole’s heart fluttered in his chest as he looked at Hope, and desire for her flooded his soul. He really wished this engagement was the real deal and not just some secret marriage contract for a limited term. Sure, his feelings for Hope were strong and desire for her burned in his blood like sin, but he had to realize it was probably only physical. The chemistry between them was real but he needed to take things gradually this second time around. His heart couldn’t handle being burned twice by the one beautiful woman he truly ever cared for.
Still, it was going to be difficult as hell but he had to go along with this as much as his body always had a strong reaction to Hope’s striking beauty and loveliness, his heart was off limits until further notice. She still wouldn’t tell him everything he wanted to know about her dark family secret—whatever it might be. The hush-hush she'd been hiding from him all these years. Probably tied into the real reason she left and tried to disappear.
After all the pleasantries and congratulations were done, Mia was taken by her grand aunt and her grandfather into the grand room where the staff was setting up the ten-foot Christmas tree. Boxes of decorations were already lined up in there. It was always a festive time to start decorating during the holidays.
Cole was blissfully content that his daughter would have the opportunity to share in the Belmont family tradition.
Just then, Chase’s Border collie came running into the grand family room and over near the fireplace. Mia was tickled with delight and immediately wiggled out of Aunt Maya’s hand toward the little dog. “Yay! Doggie. Come here, doggie,” she sung.
Cole couldn’t help but feel warm inside. She’ll have a little doggie of her own soon, he thought to himself. He had a strong desire to give his little girl anything and everything she wanted under the sun.
It was now midmorning coming up to lunchtime on a Saturday. As holiday music, like Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman, played over the speakers, Mia seemed to enjoy her time with her new family.
This gave Cole the opportunity to further discuss his business arrangement with Hope. He needed to get a few things straight with her. He couldn’t wait to clear Hope and Mia’s belongings out of that garage apartment. He was still going to get his men on investigating the landlord and the new bylaws violation.
"Well, I guess we should head over to your apartment," Cole said in a low voice, later, after they left.
"Yes, we should. I need to get all of Mia’s toys and her clothes, too. I’m so glad she’s enjoying her time with her family.” Hope paused for a moment and held up her head, arching her brow. “And you’re a very good actor, Cole," she commented playfully.
