The next morning, they were lying in bed and Melanie knew last night had been the perfect—and sexiest—distraction for them, but they needed to talk about the elephant in the room.
Snuggled up beside him under the blankets, she kissed his chest before resting her head back on his shoulder. “We need to talk.”
His arm tightened around her and she felt a light kiss on the top of her head. “I know.”
Confrontation in any form was something Melanie tended to shy away from as much as possible, but this was important and as uncomfortable as she knew it could be, it still had to be dealt with.
So many thoughts tumbled around in her head and yet she couldn’t seem to organize them enough to speak. Luckily Josiah seemed to sense that and spoke first.
“Mel, we took a long time to plan and build this house and it’s everything we ever wanted, right?”
She nodded.
“We talked endlessly about the things we wanted and the details that were important to us. We looked at magazines and websites and watched home shows to get ideas and in the end, we were able to incorporate all the features that we had to have, right?”
She nodded again but had no idea where he was going with this.
“But once we knew what we wanted, it all came together pretty quickly, didn’t it? The hardest part was sitting down and talking through our ideas and the things we thought were important. After that, everything else fell into place.”
“It still took almost eighteen months from start to finish,” she reminded him. “The house wasn’t built overnight.”
“I know, I know, but a lot of the delays were weather-related. If you took that out, the timeline was much shorter, wasn’t it?”
“I suppose.”
“When you write your books, how long does it typically take you?”
“It depends,” she said softly. “Some stories just come to me and they flow effortlessly. I’ve written a novel in a month, but most of the time it takes two to three.”
“It’s a little like the house planning,” he went on. “Once everything is worked out in your mind, the rest just seems to flow.”
“Josiah, what exactly are you trying to say? It’s too early for my brain to be following the way this conversation is going back and forth between houses and books.”
He chuckled softly and placed another kiss on top of her head. “Mel, we already know we want to get married. We have the place and it’s decorated beautifully. We’ve been living together almost since we met. I don’t think we need to wait another year for a wedding. Personally, I don’t want to wait that long.” Then he shifted so he could look at her face and smiled softly. “I want you to be my wife. The sooner the better.”
Her heart kicked hard in her chest and that’s when it hit her.
She wanted to be his wife sooner rather than later too. Waiting another year just meant obsessing about things for a longer period of time.
“I don’t want to wait another year either,” she began carefully. “I love you and I want to be your wife, but…can’t we at least talk about another date? Something that doesn’t have to do with the holidays?” And before he could comment, she quickly added, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a date that is just ours? Something we aren’t sharing with the rest of the world?”
He sighed and she knew he was disappointed. Truth be known, she hated to be the one to make him feel that way, but she also knew she’d feel worse if she kept her feelings to herself. This was going to be their wedding and it should be on both of their terms.
The silence was beginning to make Melanie nervous, so she looked up. “Josiah?”
Another sigh. “I get what you’re saying and I guess I thought we had crossed that hurdle and you were over your whole hating of all-things-Christmas.” He shrugged. “In my head, I thought it would be the perfect way for you to have a whole different view of it—something positive and happy to wash away all the negative memories.”
Rolling over, she placed her hand on his chest directly over his heart. “You have done so much to make that happen and I really have learned that not everything about Christmas is bad, but…it doesn’t mean I want to share the happiest day of my life with it. Think about it, Josiah. As magical as it all sounds in your head, think of the reality of having it as our anniversary. We’d never get to celebrate it on its own—it’s always going to be a holiday to celebrate something else. And when we have kids, our anniversary will get lost in the shuffle. Is that really what you want?”
By the look on his face, he hadn’t thought about these things. Melanie knew how much Josiah loved Christmas and everything about it. Living his entire life in Silver Bell Falls, how could he not? It was like living in a giant Christmas card year-round! That’s why she felt it was important for him to be open to looking at other dates. While she could completely concede that Christmas and everything that went with it could be wonderful, there were also a lot of other wonderful times of the year for them to consider.
“How about this,” she began, hoping to encourage him a bit. “Let’s go and have some breakfast, break out the calendar and start looking at it. How does that sound?”
He considered her for a long moment. “Do you mind if I take a shower first?”
Not quite the response she was looking for but… “Sure! I’ll go get out all the makings for pancakes and get them started. Sound good?” She knew pancakes were one of his favorite breakfast foods and she hoped it would work in her favor by putting him in a good mood while they talked about potential non-Christmas dates.
Just as she was about to move away from him, Josiah surprised her by wrapping her in his arms and twisting them until she was beneath him. He kissed her thoroughly, deeply and left her completely breathless.
“Wow,” she said, trying to catch her breath. “The thought of pancakes got you that worked up?”
He laughed softly. “No. The thought of marrying you did.”
Winding her arms around him, Melanie hugged him close. “Breakfast can wait a little while longer, right?”
And by the sexy grin on his face, Josiah completely agreed.
****
Josiah waited until Melanie was out of the bedroom and he heard her working in the kitchen before moving from the bed. The first thing he did was reach for his phone and tap out a quick text for reinforcements. He wasn’t quite ready to admit defeat on his wedding plans and he knew he was going to need a little help if he was going to have a chance.
Placing his phone back down on the nightstand, he walked into the bathroom and took his shower. As he luxuriated in the large, tiled space, he couldn’t help but remember all the times he had dreamed of this—not just living with Melanie, but having a shower that was big enough for him. The time he spent living in his tiny house before moving into the cabin with Melanie had been met with several challenges.
The shower being the biggest, ironically.
So to have a spa-quality bathroom with a shower not only big enough for him, but big enough to fit several people? Yeah, this was like a dream come true. And if he wasn’t careful, he’d spend way too much time in here and he needed to get to Melanie and their breakfast before his wedding helper and co-conspirator arrived.
Shutting off the water, he quickly toweled off and got dressed. By the time he walked into the kitchen, he was surprised to find the table set, coffee made and a platter of pancakes waiting for him on the table.
He let out a soft laugh. “How long was I up there?”
Melanie turned to him with a knowing grin. “I can see that shower is going to be an issue. Should I be jealous?”
He took the teasing as it was meant. “I can’t help it. It’s glorious.”
“That we can agree on,” she said lightly as she plated up some sizzling bacon for them.
“Bacon too?” he asked with surprise. “I must have been very good this morning.” He went to grab a slice, but she swatted his hand away. “Ow!”
“Stop. I had to make a little extra. My dad called and is stopping by. I wanted to make sure we had enough food.”
There were enough pancakes on the table to feed a small army, he thought, but kept it to himself. “How come John’s coming over? Is everything okay?”
As if on cue, the doorbell rang. Josiah stayed in the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee while Melanie ran to let her father in. He heard their greetings and hid his smile behind his coffee mug when they both walked into the kitchen.
“Hey, Josiah,” John said as he came over and shook his hand. “Hope you don’t mind me barging in on your breakfast.”
“You know you’re welcome here any time,” Josiah replied smoothly and then motioned to the pot of coffee. “Help yourself.”
“Thanks.”
“You were a little cryptic on the phone, Dad,” Melanie chimed in. “What’s going on?”
The three of them sat down at the table and began helping themselves to the food.
“I’m struggling with the plans for the house,” John said, cutting into his stack of pancakes. “I have loved living in the tiny house, but—similar to the issues Josiah had—I definitely need more space to do the things I want to do.”
“Like what?” Melanie asked, looking mildly confused.
“I want to be able to have a Christmas tree,” he said casually. “I remember Josiah telling me about how he hadn’t thought about that when he purchased the house and how he had to decorate the cabin that first Christmas in order to use his decorations.”
“So you’re designing your new home based on a tree?” Melanie deadpanned.
Both John and Josiah chuckled. “It’s not just that,” John explained. “And it’s not like I’m talking about a lot of extra space, but definitely more than I have now.” He took a sip of his coffee. “I’m going to want at least two guest rooms for when you two have kids, which I’m hoping is going to be soon. I’m not getting any younger, you know.”
Josiah merrily bit into a slice of bacon as he watched Melanie’s eyes go wide.
“Dad, we haven’t started talking about kids. We’re not even married yet!”
John placed his fork down and looked at his daughter. “And that’s something else I wanted to talk to you about. The two of you have been engaged for almost a year now. Don’t you think it’s time you set a date?”
“Funny you should mention that, John,” Josiah said, “because Melanie and I have been talking about it this past week.”
“Excellent! Oh, that’s good news! So…when’s the big day?” John asked anxiously.
Josiah looked across the table at Melanie, who was still sitting there wide-eyed.
“Uh…well…” Melanie began.
“Actually, John, we’re not quite in agreement on that yet,” Josiah jumped in to explain. “Just this morning we agreed to pull out the calendar to try to decide.”
John looked between the two of them and smiled. “Mind if I help?”
“Dad, I don’t think you want to…”
“Mel, your dad could be the exact thing we need to help us make our decision. He’s an objective third party,” Josiah reasoned.
“I guess.” But she didn’t look completely convinced.
They ate in silence for a few minutes before John asked them to catch him up on what they were thinking in terms of wedding dates. Josiah went first and laid out his plans for a Christmas wedding—including everything they had seen the previous day with Hank and Lisa’s barn and how so many of the details were already taken care of since Lisa had the barn ready.
“Wow,” John said, nodding. “It sounds amazing.” Then he looked at Melanie. “And you didn’t like it?”
She shook her head. “That’s not it at all. I loved it. Everything was beautiful.”
“Then…what’s the problem?”
First she shot Josiah a glare, then she looked at her father. “Isn’t it enough that I have settled down in Christmastown, USA? Do I really have to share my wedding day with the holiday too?”
“I thought you were over that,” John replied. “You know, your aversion to Christmas.”
With a loud huff of frustration, Melanie stood and walked across the kitchen to refresh her coffee. “This isn’t only about that!” she cried. “As the bride, aren’t I entitled to have what I want on my wedding day?”
In that moment, Josiah felt a little guilty. “Mel, maybe we should…”
She held up a hand to stop him. “No, you wanted to get an impartial third-party opinion on this, so he deserves to have all the facts.” Then she turned to her father and explained how she had envisioned her wedding—which basically was almost identical to what Josiah wanted, just minus the holiday cheer.
When she was done talking, she sat back down and pushed her food around on her plate.
John reached over and covered one of her hands with his. “Okay, planning a wedding isn’t supposed to stress people out until you are well underway. This is too much too soon,” he commented.
And as Josiah sat there and watched Melanie looking so miserable, he knew what he had to do. Slowly, he pushed his plate away and reached over and took the fork out of her hand before clasping her hand in his. “I didn’t mean to put this much pressure on you. I guess I thought you’d warm up to the idea just like you have with all the other holiday-related things I’ve thrown your way. I was being selfish and I’m sorry.”
When she looked up at him, her eyes were wet with unshed tears. “All of those things did end up being better than I thought, but…this isn’t a parade or a tree, Josiah. This is going to be one of the biggest days of our lives.”
He swallowed hard. “I know,” he said quietly. “I know.”
“So where does that leave us?” she asked, emotion clogging her throat.
“It leaves us looking at dates on the calendar after January first.” The words almost stuck in his throat, but he said them and he meant them. As much as having a Christmas wedding meant to him, Melanie meant more. The last thing he wanted was for them to start out their lives together with hard feelings about their wedding and him not playing fair to get his way.
Looking at John, he nodded.
“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Melanie asked.
At the moment, no, but he opted to keep that to himself. “I am. I want us to have the perfect wedding and that means on a date we both agree on, okay?”
She visibly relaxed and just like that, it was like a switch flipped. Melanie began to talk excitedly about how she could see them using most of Lisa’s décor at the barn and modifying them to look a little less wintery and how she could still use the referrals for wedding boutiques in New York City because she didn’t want to have to plan their wedding around how long it took to get her gown.
“This is so exciting!” she said, jumping up from her chair. “I’m going to go grab my laptop so we can start looking at the calendar!” She gave Josiah a loud smacking kiss on his cheek before sprinting from the room.
When she was out of sight, John looked at him. “You’re a good man, Josiah.”
He shrugged. “Her happiness means more to me than anything. And she’s right. I’ve pushed my own agenda regarding the holidays since we met. It’s time for me to respect her boundaries—especially on such an important day.”
“I know how much this meant to you and I was more than willing to come here today and try to persuade Melanie to be a little more open-minded. I guess—like you—I didn’t realize how much this sort of thing still bothered her.”
Josiah was about to comment but his cell phone rang. Pulling it from his pocket, he glanced at the screen and quickly answered. He listened as his deputy gave him the details of a high-speed chase heading toward the city limits of Silver Bell.
“I’m on my way,” he said firmly and slipped his phone back into his pocket.
“Everything okay?” John asked, coming to his feet as Josiah did.
“Looks like a bit of trouble is heading toward town in the form of a chase. I need to get out there and see what we can do to slow it down and maybe stop things before someone gets hurt.” He moved around the kitchen with efficiency as he grabbed his shoes and his coat. Walking to the mudroom, he crouched down and opened the safe where he kept his gun, badge, and holster.
Melanie walked in just then. “What’s going on?”
He straightened and kissed her on the cheek. “We’ve got a chase heading toward town. I’ve got to go and do my thing.” He kissed her one more time. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she said, worry lacing her features.
There wasn’t time to say more. The drive into town would take fifteen minutes and he’d be on the line the entire time with his team to make sure the area was secured. Adrenaline began to pump as he got his head into sheriff mode.
And as he pulled away from the house, wedding dates were the last thing on his mind. Keeping the people of Silver Bell Falls safe was his only concern.