A Mountain Springs Christmas

Epilogue

epilogue

NOELLE

One Year Later

Noelle stood by all the coats piled high on the couch in her parents’ living room, picking up one at a time and handing it to its owner as everyone said their goodbyes to each other.

“Happy birthday to Noelle...” Aiden shouted out.

And then everyone else joined in the chorus, “And to Noelle, a good night!”

She smiled, just like she always did whenever anyone did that on her birthday. Especially when it was Aiden. The kid she now got to call her nephew. That made her smile even bigger.

Once they all made it outside and she and Jack were splitting off to head to his car while Rachel and Aiden veered off toward theirs, Aiden turned and called out, “We’ll race you back to our house!”

“No,” Rachel said, “we will drive the speed limit or under on the way back to our house. We don’t want Uncle Jack to get in a Christmas Eve car crash ever again.”

“Right,” Aiden said. “Don’t speed, Uncle Jack. And don’t wreck.”

Jack chuckled, then saluted Aiden. “You’ve got it, buddy.”

As they pulled away from her parents' house, Noelle said, “I wish we could’ve been in our new house by Christmas. It would be fun to have Rachel and Aiden sleeping over at our place this year.”

That had been their original plan. But owners of the home in Mountain Springs that they were buying had a delay on the house they were building, so now they weren’t going to be able to close on their home until mid-January.

Jack reached out and entwined his fingers in hers—something she would never tire of feeling. “It’s okay. This Christmas already has enough firsts—we can save First Christmas in our new house for next year.”

“True.” And the house they were buying was so perfect for them and so beautiful, and so close to both of their families. It was worth waiting for.

“This year,” Jack said, his eyes darting to hers for a quick moment before watching the road again, “is the first Christmas where I get to call you my wife.”

“The first Christmas where I get to call you my husband. And the first Christmas where everyone on the hayride actually went to the church for our wedding instead of going caroling.”

Noelle smiled at how perfect it had been. Her favorite activity led to her favorite day of her life.

Jack gave her hand a squeeze. “The first Christmas while you’ve been working at Anderton Advertising.”

She had found the job quickly after she had quit working for Jack. And much to her surprise, she loved it. She thought she’d never find a place she loved as much as working for Jack, so it definitely eased the blow of not continuing to work for him.

“And the first Christmas where they put you in charge of planning the holiday party. And put you in charge of a million other things once they found out what a rockstar employee you are.”

She chuckled. He always made her sound like she was more impressive than she was. Anderton’s was a much bigger ad agency, so she often met with clients personally, which she still wasn’t entirely used to. It made her wish he was there to introduce her to each new client because he always made her sound like she was capable of taking over the world. It gave her a boost of confidence every time.

“And,” she said, dragging out the word, “this is the first Christmas where you had to be worried about the boss/employee relationship with Jess.” Jess was the woman who had taken over her position after Noelle had quit a year ago today. As she was training her, she quickly became her best friend, so Jack hadn’t quite gotten past having to navigate the waters of socializing with an employee outside of work hours.

“Yeah,” he said dryly, “thanks for that.”

She laughed heartily just hearing his tone. Then she gave his hand a squeeze. As they turned onto Rachel’s street, she said, “It’s our first Christmas seeing Rachel so healthy after being declared cancer-free.”

Jack’s smile seemed to fill his whole face.

“You really like that one, don’t you?”

“I will never tire of seeing her so healthy. Ever.” He pulled into her driveway just as Rachel pulled into her garage. “This is our first Christmas taking home the trophy for the best dinner.”

“And I can’t wait to put that trophy on our new mantle.”

“Even though it’s a trophy of the world’s scariest-looking elf wearing an equally horrifying Christmas sweater?”

“Especially because it’s of the world’s scariest elf and horrifying sweater.”

As they were both walking up to the front door, shivering in the cold, he said, “First Christmas where we know we’ll be leaving the next day to go honeymoon in warm, sunny, not-at-all snowy Cancun.”

Noelle moaned in anticipation. “I can’t wait to soak up all that sun.”

Before Jack opened the front door, he put an arm around her waist and said, “First Christmas where I get to say happy birthday to my wife.” And then he planted a sweet kiss right on her lips.

Once they got inside, Aiden gave Jack his usual running starfish hug, then hugged Noelle, and they both pet Bailey as she nuzzled in between them all. They helped get Aiden to bed, read him the book The Night Before Christmas , then put out the presents when they knew he was asleep. After saying goodnight to Rachel, they got ready for bed and headed into the living room, where an air mattress was already blown up and waiting for them.

They shifted to get situated, bouncing each other on the air mattress with each tiny movement. Then, covers pulled up to her chin, Noelle lay her head on Jack’s shoulder, snuggling into him. She turned her face toward his. “First Christmas where I get to wake up on Christmas morning right next to you.”

He kissed her forehead and said, “Here’s to many more firsts.”