Page 80 of Fake It For Him

My heart jerked, but Ella didn’t appear to be freaking out again. On the other hand, with the amount of times my family had referred to her as being part of it at this point, I supposed I shouldn’t have been surprised.

The first time it’d happened when Freya had given her those earrings, it’d come as a huge shock to her. She’d felt like an imposter, which I understood, but now, things were different.

Ella was getting used to them making comments like that, and even to me, it was starting to feel true. Like she was part of it.

“Let’s go get those drinks,” I said, taking her hand in a firm grip and dragging her over to the bar.

Mom and Dad went back to their guests, only about twenty of their closest friends tonight, and Finn and Freya walked with us. Freya joined Jim, who’d already been waiting at the bar, and Finn grinned at them.

“What do you guys think? Any chance of us having a little niece or nephew by next Christmas?”

Freya widened her eyes at him. “Hold your horses, big brother. Jim and I intend on enjoying ourselves as a married couple for at least a year or two before we bring another person into the world.”

“Pity,” he said. “I’m going to be an awesome uncle and Calan’s going to be okay too. You should give us a baby to spoil.”

“Okay?” I echoed, shaking my head as I chuckled. “I’m going to be amazing, not just okay. You’ll see. I’m going to be the cool uncle. The one the kid looks up to and loves more than anyone.”

Finn scoffed, laughter in his eyes as he frowned. “You’re going to be the cool uncle? I don’t think so. Have you ever even held a baby?”

“No, but they don’t remember who holds them. They remember who buys the most epic gifts for their birthdays and saves their butts from getting in trouble with their parents.”

“That’s only years down the line, though,” he argued teasingly. “It all starts with a bond between you and the baby, which you won’t have because you won’t hold it.”

I thought it over, but I couldn’t really argue. I suspected he was right. All things considered though, none of that really mattered to me right now. My brother and I were bantering for the first time in years and that was what was important.

Freya was watching us with a soft smile on her face. “You guys could just have babies of your own to spoil and bond with. I’m the youngest. Why does it have to be on me to go first?”

Finn shrugged. “You’re the closest to being married.”

“That doesn’t matter. You can have a baby when you’re not married, you know.”

I chuckled and ordered drinks for Ella and me. Then I winked at my sister. “Yeah, we know that, but we need you to show us how it’s done. Besides, you’re the youngest, but you’re also the most emotionally mature, which means it’s on you.”

Finn held up his hand for a high-five and I smacked my palm into his, more and more surprised by how easily we were falling back into the relationship we used to have. I wasn’t going to fool myself into thinking that everything was suddenly okay between us. I knew we were nowhere near that, but we were taking baby steps in the right direction.

In Maui, we hadn’t spoken directly to each other much, but we’d spent a lot of time together with Freya and the girls who had remained. He’d also spoken to Ella a lot, and I knew it was because he was both comfortable with and convinced by her that he was putting in the effort with me.

We were both making an effort, and since it was a point I wasn’t sure we’d ever reach, it made me feel joyful as fuck. ‘Tis the season, after all.

The rest of the party went just as well. My family was seated together at one of the long tables that had been set for dinner. Everyone was happy and it felt a little like we’d gone back in time, to when we’d been so close that it’d been rare for us to go more than a day or two without talking.

In addition to all that, I had a beautiful woman on my arm that I was in love with and all our family and friends were here. Cheesy as it was, I couldn’t wipe the damn grin off my face all night.

As we were heading to the TV room to watch the carols, Ella wrapped her hands around my arm, eyes shining with laughter. She pulled me to a stop and pointed up with her free hand. “Mistletoe.”

My gaze followed where she was pointing and I saw that she was right. She’d stopped me under the mistletoe, and when she pulled me closer to her for a kiss, I went willingly, still grinning and feeling like I’d never stop.

42

ELLA

On Christmas Day, Calan and I spent most of the morning lounging in bed. And fooling around. It was the best Christmas morning I’d had in years, and frankly, it’d been the best Christmas Eve I’d had in years too.

Now that things felt so real with Calan, I was finding that it wasn’t bothering me so much to constantly be referred to as part of the family. I was even enjoying it a bit—and maybe I was hoping that if they kept saying it, Calan would start wanting it and that he’d make it true.

But short of that, I was just happy to have a sense of joyfulness and belonging on Christmas again. Before I could get wrapped up in the pain of how long it’d been since I’d had that, Calan pressed a hard kiss to my lips before he rolled out of bed.

“It’s ten thirty, baby. We need to be there at eleven. Come shower with me?”