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“Not me. I want to wear my green jumper and turtleneck with white leggings,” Wren countered.
With their outfits chosen, the girls grabbed socks and boots to complete the ensemble, laying everything on one of the beds in the room they didn’t sleep in. “Can we go help Uncle Chace with the tree now?”
“What about hair do-dads?” Holly asked for lack of a better term, because she’d learned on Friday that picking out barrettes, hair bands, and bows could take up more time than the rest of their morning routine combined.
Surprisingly, both girls selected cloth headbands in colors that matched what they planned to wear. Holly guessed the incentive of decorating the tree helped speed up the process, for which she was eternally grateful.
“Now, can we go help Uncle Chace?”
“You sure can.”
With shrieks of excitement, the girls raced back to the family room. “We’re finished,” they exclaimed in unison.
Chace was stepping back from the tree as Holly joined them. “So am I,” he replied. “What do you think?”
“It’s beautiful,” followed by “I love it,” were the twins’ responses.
Presently, multi-colored lights transitioned slowly to white and back again. “This is one setting, but there are several.” He tapped the remote. “They can change back and forth like this. Or you can choose one or the other where they can blink or remain static. Which do you like best?” Chace showed them every option for them to make an informed decision.
“Like this tonight,” Wren stated. “Then tomorrow, we change it to something else.”
Emme nodded. “Yeah. That’s a good idea.”
Chace looked to Holly as if asking for her input. She shrugged. “Whatever they want is fine by me.” And it was.
“Can we decorate it now?”
“Please?”
“Be my guest.”
Wren’s brow crinkled. “Aren’t you gonna help?”
“Of course.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket. “But first, I’m gonna order some pizza.”
Holly could have kissed him for thinking ahead to dinner because she obviously hadn’t. If yesterday and today were any indication, their teamwork in caring for the twins seemed to be working to their advantage.
“I know we’ll need one large, half plain cheese and half supreme.” Chace looked up at Holly and winked. It was their standard order when they were together because she didn’t like anything on her pizza, and he wanted everything. “What do you urchins like on yours?”
“We’re not urchins, Uncle Chace.” Wren giggled.
“Close enough. Now, what’s your pizza preference?”
“Pepperoni,” they chorused.
“Good deal.” Again, he looked up at Holly. “Do we need anything else? Chips? Drinks?”
She shook her head. “No. All that’s already here.”
Nodding, he placed the order as the girls tore the lids off the remaining containers to begin the tree-decorating process. A few minutes later, Chace joined the fun, and everyone pitched in to add as many ornaments as possible to the twinkling branches. By unspoken agreement, they split the fir in half, with Chace and Holly handling the top portion, Emme and Wren the lower.
When the pizza arrived thirty minutes later, they’d made good headway. Chace took care of getting the door and paying the delivery person. Holly got juice for the twins and soda for the grownups. Emme grabbed the chips, and Wren set the table with paper plates and napkins.
Conversation stalled while they devoured their pizza and chips. After finishing her second slice and chasing it down with a gulp of juice, Wren patted her belly. “Thanks, Uncle Chace. That was delicious.”
“Yeah, thanks,” Emme chimed in before popping a few chips into her mouth. “This has been one of myfavoritistweekends ever.”
Chace smiled at both his nieces. “Yeah? Mine too,” he agreed, a look of longing in his beautiful eyes as he took in the scene before him.
