Bella crossed her arms on her chest and demanded, “Did she or did she not make a play for you when you were walking home from the pub after I left twenty years ago?”
Prentice’s head turned to Bella and he opened his mouth to speak.
Then he closed it.
Then he muttered, “Fuck.”
Bella looked at Mikey, Debs and Annie and nodded sharply, stating, “She did.” She looked back at Prentice and demanded, “I’m talking to her. Hattie Fennick and I are getting a few things straight.”
Prentice turned to face Bella fully. “Elle, you aren’t saying a word to that woman. Neither am I. I’ll talk to Nigel.”
“Nigel can’t control her, never could,” Debs put in.
Prentice turned to his sister and leveled his very, very serious gaze on her, replying, “He’s going to have to learn.”
Annie made a face at Mikey, her eyes rounding and her bottom lip curving down in a non-verbal, “Eek!”
Bella still had her arms crossed on her chest and she was glaring at Prentice.
Prentice turned to Bella and asked, “Are we agreed?”
Bella nodded her head jerkily but said, “She messes with Jason again or her son does or if Sally enters this mix, she and I are going to have words. No!” Her hand came up, index finger extended to the ceiling. “I’m going to have words. She’s said quite enough.”
Prentice gazed at her a moment then he grinned then his arm shot out and hooked her around the waist, pulling her to his body right before his mouth came down on hers hard.
“They do this a lot,” Annie whispered to Mikey, her face tender.
“Aye, it’s relentless,” Debs muttered, her face smiling.
Mikey just watched the couple, his face soft and he didn’t say a thing.
Prentice’s head came up and he looked at the group, completely unembarrassed about semi-snogging Bella in front of them but he didn’t let Bella go.
Bella curled into him, putting her head on his shoulder as she looked at the crowd.
Bella’s face was happy.
“Who’s staying for dinner?” Prentice asked.
Chapter Twenty
Princess Castle
Elle
It was ten thirty Christmas Eve, the kids were upstairs in bed (hopefully sleeping) and Prentice and Mikey were in the television room assembling Santa’s present for Sally, a four story, mini-princess castle.
Elle was rushing around in the great room stuffing stockings, unearthing presents from Santa she’d hidden that she’d bought and wrapped while the kids were at school, arranging them under the tree and pulling together her potato, cheese, sausage casserole that she would pour the scrambled egg over and toss in the oven first thing in the morning for breakfast.
Fergus, Annie and Dougal had been over for dinner that night and tomorrow they were to have Christmas morning at the house but head to Fiona’s parents’ for Christmas dinner before leaving there and going to Prentice’s parents’ house to spend the evening with them.
This was Elle’s idea and she’d been hesitant in suggesting it to Prentice, not wanting to mention Fiona and her family in his mood but feeling the need to do so, at least for the kids (as well as Fiona’s family). But she wasn’t hesitant after she’d actually suggested it.
The minute it came out of her mouth, he stared at her a moment then both his hands shot out, grasped her at the hips and then he pulled her so forcefully into his arms that her breath left her on a wheeze. He shoved his face in her neck and held on tight.
Her arms slid around him too and she whispered in his ear, “Pren.”
“I want them to have their grandchildren, I want my children to have their grandparents and, on Christmas especially, I want them to have something of their mother,” he whispered into the skin of her neck. “What I didn’t want to do was upset you your first Christmas with us by asking that of you.”
Well, there it was, the reason Prentice was on edge.
Elle had closed her eyes and she held on tighter too.
Then she said softly, “Honey, Fiona is our family.”
Her words made his arms get tighter, Elle pulled in breath then she felt him kiss her neck, his arms loosened and his head came up so he could say in his sweet voice, “Fuck, but I love you.”
Then, before she could return the sentiment, he’d kissed her and after he was done kissing her she was too dazed to remember to return it.
After their short conversation, Prentice had relaxed and so did Elle and they finally started enjoying the holiday full force without his tenseness invading.
Now she was covering the casserole with foil before she slid it in the fridge which would herald the end of her chores so she could go in and help Prentice and Mikey then, finally, go to bed and tomorrow… Christmas.
Christmas.
She couldn’t wait.
Prentice had warned her not to spoil the kids, he didn’t want to raise their expectations which could get out-of-control with her efforts to top herself year to year considering they had a woman in their lives who had the means to make even their wildest dreams come true.
But that didn’t mean Santa didn’t bring Sally her princess castle and a princess dress with shoes and a fairy outfit with wings so she could have a choice if she wanted to be a princess or a fairy and use all the fairy things Elle had sent her from Chicago. Jason, who still practiced on Fiona’s guitar daily, sometimes for hours, was getting an electric guitar with amplifier just in case he wanted to branch out. He also was getting a PlayStation.
Prentice had okayed these purchases mostly because he’d also paid for them, not allowing Elle to do it. So Elle was going to add her own gift, a trip to Disneyworld their next holiday and she’d informed Prentice of her intent the day before.
Prentice had, at first, not okayed that. Words were exchanged, they got heated but Elle didn’t give in and eventually, after a fair amount of (annoying, Elle thought) effort, she talked him around.
So Sally and Jason were going to be a wee bit spoiled, it wasn’t the end of the world. And this was how she’d convinced Prentice.
Or she told herself that.
What she had a strong idea was the real reason he gave in was because he saw how excited she was to give his children a special Christmas. Some days before, in bed in the dark, Prentice had shared with her that the last one was, for understandable reasons, really not that great. Princess castles, electric guitars and the promise of Disneyworld was not going to bring back their mother, but it would bring smiles to their faces and happy expectation for months of what was to come and that was something, something good and something good was always better than nothing.
So Elle was looking forward to seeing their faces when they opened their gifts and learned of the upcoming holiday.
She couldn’t wait.
And she couldn’t remember one single Christmas, not in her life, that she couldn’t wait for the morning to come. Even when she was young, before her mother died, the atmosphere in the Austin household was too heavy to be conducive to Christmas cheer.
But the last several days, with Mikey there, Prentice relaxed, Christmas cookies, Christmas music, Christmas decorations, Christmas wrapping, friends and family all around, it had been a blast and Elle could not wait for the big day.
And, incidentally, having shared all this with Prentice, she didn’t know that was the real reason why he gave in on a wee bit of spoiling.
She slid the casserole in the fridge, a smile playing at her mouth and was closing the fridge when she heard a knock at the front door.