Thursday, December 15
A little light Friday reading... (oops... it's not Friday yet, is it? Clearly, with all of us starting a two week Christmas break tomorrow, I've already got a Friday frame of mind...)
The Christmas Card by Chel... Part Six
The wedding was beautiful with fall colors inside and snow falling outside. Ellie cried as she did at all weddings. The Lodge was the perfect place for a wedding, she thought. Percy looked handsome in his dress clothes standing as Best Man for his brother.
Ellie sat next to Percy at the head table at the wedding dinner. When the toasts were done and the desserts cleared away, he leaned in and whispered in her ear. "Come. Dance with me."
"But you don't dance," Ellie giggled. "I didn't dance," he corrected her. "I do now." And with that, he swept her onto the dance floor where they spent the evening in one another's arms, feeling the music move them, letting their love grow.
---
Percy had arranged for rooms at the Lodge for both of them knowing that it was supposed to snow that night. He held Ellie's hand as he walked her to her room in the early morning hours when the band had finally packed up for the night.
They stopped in front of her doorway, and he looked deep into her eyes. "Thank you, Ellie, for giving me this chance to get to know you again and for me to show you who I am now." He put his hand on the side of her face and tipped her head back ever so slightly as he leaned in to kiss her.
The kiss was warm and tender, Ellie would later remember as she replayed every moment of the evening as she soaked in the tub in her Lodge room. It was genuine and deep and stirring. It was perfect, she thought as she slipped into sleep.
---
"What the devil are you doing up there, you crazy woman?" Mac yelled at Ellie as he and Shelby got out of their car.
"Welcome back!" Ellie yelled back. "I hope the honeymoon trip was wonderful."
"Don't ignore my question. What are you doing? Have you lost your mind?" Mac yelled while he was stomping across his yard to hers.
Ellie was, at that moment, lying on her roof stapling twinkle lights to the eaves.
"Surely you remember how I feel about Christmas," Ellie said, reaching for another strand of lights, grinning. "I was busy all last week, and now I've got less than three weeks to enjoy the holiday decorations. Gotta get these up!"
"But surely there's some nice man you could call - my brother for example - to help you with this," Mac said.
"Why? Why would she need a man to do this for her?" his new bride asked, cocking her head to the side and placing her hands on her hips.
"Oh, no. Don't the two of you gang up on me. I'm just saying she could use some help."
"So I'll help her," Shelby said.
"Cool. The ladder's over to the side, and on your way up you could bring another box of staples," Ellie said laughing at Mac. "We'll have the prettiest girly decorations on the block."
"Great. Just what I wanted," Mac grumbled as he walked back to his house and got their luggage out of the car. When he got into the house, he dropped the bags and grabbed his cell phone.
After listening for a couple of rings, he said, "You'll never believe what your crazy girlfriend and my crazy wife are doing."
---
"I love you, El," Percy whispered into Ellie's ear after he pulled her under the mistletoe at his parent's house. "And I love you... and I love having you tell me that you love me," she whispered back. "But should you be kissing me here?"
"Hell, yes!" came the booming response from Percy's father. "That boy should kiss you whenever and wherever you'll allow. Smartest choice he's made in years."
The whole family laughed as people poured into the small room. "We're glad to have you join us again, Dearie," he said using his pet name for Ellie. Norman had always been like a surrogate father to Ellie, and she was thrilled that he and Mary Catherine were pleased about her relationship with Percy.
"Now, if I could just get Mac and Shelby to start having me some grandbabies, I'd be a happy man," Norman continued. Laughter filled the room, and Ellie was content.
This, she thought, is what home should feel like.
--- (to be continued...)
[ posted by Chel on Thursday, December 15, 2005 ]
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