Christmas Melody_a romance for the holidays by Alyssa Jefferson

Author:Alyssa Jefferson [Jefferson, Alyssa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Alyssa Jefferson
Published: 2017-11-19T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

Mitch and Aiden spent the weekend with Melody. After picking out a tree with Mel’s friends, they had lunch at a small café near the farm, then headed home in Mitch’s pick-up truck to set up the tree and decorate it. As Mel had predicted, Mitch was eager to step in and help her do something that he was fully confident she could not do on her own with her knee still recovering, but was equally confident she would probably try anyway if he didn’t offer his services.

Aiden helped Mel string popcorn for the tree on Saturday night. Although the television and games were all downstairs, Aiden decided to stay upstairs when he realized Mel couldn’t make the trip to the basement on crutches, and they listened to Christmas music from Mel’s cell phone while they worked. Meanwhile, Mitch ran to the grocery store to pick up holiday foods, and returned to serve pot roast, potatoes and carrots, and eggnog.

It was the perfect little pre-Christmas celebration, and Mel enjoyed it so much that it made her heart hurt a little to think that none of it was real. This wasn’t her family, or even her boyfriend’s family; this was just her kind-hearted knee doctor and his kid whom she would probably never have any reason to see again after her knee healed up.

But still, she enjoyed it. She was on the floor, leg stretched out and balanced atop a pillow, mug of eggnog in hand, as she watched Aiden and Mitch work on decorating the tree. Aiden seemed to have a very exact way of doing things, probably based on what he had learned from his mother.

“Daddy, that’s a heavy ornament, so you have to put it close to the bottom.”

“It’s fine, buddy.”

“No, it isn’t! The tree could tip over if it’s top-heavy.”

Mitch looked at Mel and said, “You don’t care where the heavy ornaments go, do you?”

She smiled and said, “No, but it sounds like maybe Aiden knows something I don’t know.”

Mitch ignored him and put the ornament on an upper branch, then laughingly consented to move it lower when his teasing made Aiden begin to cry, “Daddy!”

Mel was a little put off by Mitch’s not seeming to know how to interact with his son. He’d been engaged to Ashleigh for Aiden’s whole life; presumably, they’d all lived together. Mel was far from a parenting expert, but as an aunt, she knew not to tease the kids when they were actually doing something smart and responsible—it happened so rarely that when it did, it was cause for celebration, not ridicule. That, combined with this morning’s tension, made Mel begin to wonder about Mitch’s parenting skills. She decided to reward Aiden herself with a little praise, and hope that Mitch would notice and get the right idea from her.

“Hey, kiddo,” she said to Aiden, holding out her hand. He trotted over to her, bravely sniffling back his tears, and let her tuck his unruly curls behind his ear. “Thanks for making sure we decorate the tree the right way.

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