Page 107 of Holiday Husband

Aurelia slipped her hand into mine again. We bunched up around him, the room glowing with the warmth of firelight. Dad raised his bourbon and looked at each of us in turn, a soft, almost emotional smile on his face.

“How we’ve grown,” he murmured, blinking himself out of what had, for one terrifying moment, looked like the beginning of tears. “I just want to say how proud I am of every last one of you. These last couple years have been a time of change and transition, a time of growth, sometimes uncertainty, and for my boys to really become the men they were supposed to be. Thank you all for your hard work, keeping the family name high no matter what the endeavor, and thank you for being here with us tonight.”

“To new beginnings,” Sterling said, raising his glass.

“To family,” Jameson added, his arm extending into the air as he pulled a highly pregnant Sadie closer with his other arm. “Mostly to the fact that this particular family is growing at an extremely rapid pace.”

“To survival,” Callum joked, and everyone laughed. “Let’s be honest, that’s what you’re all thinking. I’m just the one who said it.”

As they all drank, I glanced down at Aurelia and quietly added my own toast, meant only for her ears. “To us and doing it all. Together.”

She tilted her face toward me, her smile soft. “Always.”

After everyone had swallowed their sips, the living room once again became a blur of motion and noise, but this time, the chaos seemed more beautiful to me. It was such a stark contrast to how it had been only two years ago, when Sterling had spent most of Christmas Eve on the phone, closing a deal on the other side of the world.

Jameson had spent most of the night with an entire bottle of whiskey on the coffee table next to him, slumped in front thefire and shooting the most depressing breeze ever with Callum. Callum, who had reached for the bottle even more often than Jameson, the two of them hammering out lists of shit they needed to get done as soon as the office reopened.

Meanwhile, I’d spent the night with one foot out the door, just waiting for the opening to leave and join my friends at a party downtown. We’d jetted out to the Alps before first light the next morning, all of us eager to get away from our families and be hitting fresh powder instead.

It was crazy, how much things had changed since then. Aurelia glanced up at me again, her small hand snaking around my shoulder to give it a concerned squeeze. “Are you okay? It looked like you kind of zoned out there for a minute.”

“I did,” I admitted without skipping a beat. “My brothers will probably think I’m crazy for saying this, but Dad was right when he told them it was time. They’re all so much happier now.”

“What about you?”

My lips curved into a grin and I lowered my head a little closer to hers. “I’m the smartest of the bunch. He didn’t even need to tell me it was time. I just knew. Especially once I met you.”

“Alright, everyone,” Sterling called, interrupting whatever her response might’ve been when he clapped his hands together. “Family photo time before anyone spills anything on their shirts.”

The suggestion earned him a collective groan, but then Garvey appeared with the camera and a tripod, sighing like a man who knew this would take half an hour. Sterling was already trying to wrangle everyone, but Garvey was probably right. It was going to take a while to get us all into one frame.

“Hailey, no. We don’t eat the tinsel, baby,” Jameson said, rescuing a glittering strand from his daughter’s mouth.

Sadie tried to fix the bow in Briar’s hair. Callum was juggling the baby carrier and trying to grab Brody’s attention away from Hooch. Sterling was adjusting his tie even though nobody else was wearing one.

“Is everyone ready?” Garvey asked stiffly once we were all gathered. “On three. One, two. No, Miss Aurelia, you blinked.”

“I did not,” Aurelia protested, laughing as she shifted closer to me. “Or maybe I did. Who even knows?”

Garvey sighed. “Can wetryto keep the little ones still? Not one of them is looking at the camera.”

The chaos continued. My brothers all tried to somehow coax their babies into looking at Garvey despite the fact that the man was just standing there, making no move to capture their attention. Aurelia’s hair brushed my jaw, soft and familiar.

“Should we tell them now?” she murmured, low enough that only I could hear her. “If Garvey takes the picture as we do, we’ll get to keep the memory forever.”

I looked at her, my wife, my partner, and the secret she was carrying, and smiled. “I kind of like having it to ourselves for a while.”

Her fingers brushed mine, the faintest smile tugging at her lips. “Me too.”

“Maybe tomorrow?” I asked. “At Christmas lunch when your parents are here too? I’d like to keep it to ourselves for a little longer than that, but if you’re?—”

“Alright, last one,” Garvey called. “Everyone look at me. Smile!”

The flash went off, blinding half the room. A split second of stillness followed. Then the noise erupted again. Someone cheered, Brody and Hooch darted off, and the adults followed the scent of roast beef and spiced wine to the dining room.

Outside, beyond the fogged windows, soft flakes began to drift from the sky, impossibly rare for San Francisco. Aurelia caught sight of it first.

“Snow,” she whispered, her hand finding mine beneath the table. I looked at her, then out the window, watching the flakes catch in the glow of the lights strung up outside.

“I guess even the weather wanted a fresh start this year,” I murmured. “It’s kind of perfect.”

She smiled, and although I knew that next Christmas, there’d be one more little Westwood in the photo, for tonight, the secret was ours—and it really was perfect.

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