North Pole Unlimited Collection 3 by Elle Rush

Author:Elle Rush [Rush, Elle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: SBD Entertainment

Chapter 16

Jilly saw the clock hit midnight on Christmas Eve, and greeted the wee hours of Christmas morning with Jimmy Stewart, Maureen O’Hara and Alastair Sim. She finished the wine from her at-home supper date with Ben from earlier in the week and polished off seven chocolate covered shortcake cookies from Totally Iced, but she resisted opening the last box she was saving for Daniel’s visit. Then she stumbled to bed and spent the remainder of the night enjoying sugarplum dreams.

With her electric blanket on, she floated to consciousness feeling toasty warm, wondering what woke her to the sun shining through her bedroom window. Then she heard a thump. Followed by a deep male voice shouting, “Ho, ho, ho!”

Jilly went from half-asleep to standing on her bed, brandishing the book from her bedside table as a weapon in a blink.

The voice called out again. “Mom?”

It took a minute to get her heart out of her throat and beating again. “Danny? I’m still in bed. One second and I’ll be right down.” Jilly grabbed the fuzzy blue robe hanging on the back of her closet door and raced to the front door, fumbling with the thick belt as she tried to tie it shut over her plaid, flannel pajamas. “Danny? What are you doing here? I didn’t sleep through till the twenty-seventh, did I?” She’d had a good night’s rest but that was ridiculous.

Her son stood in the doorway, shucking his jacket and toeing off his boots, with an even taller young man behind him doing the same. “Merry Christmas morning, Mom!”

Jilly didn’t bother to ask any questions. She gave Daniel a big hug, and then pulled in Alex. “What on earth are you doing here? You weren’t supposed to arrive until the day after tomorrow.”

The tall redhead behind Dan threw up his hands. “My family’s Christmas Eve tradition of baked salmon did not go over well this year. Everyone who ate it was up all night with food poisoning. Our Christmas supper has been postponed till tomorrow night.” Alex looked embarrassed.

“What about your best man duties?” Jilly asked as she ushered them into the kitchen and started the coffee maker.

“The spur of the moment wedding hit a snag. Their flight to Mexico got bumped up to six o’clock tomorrow morning, so they’re having their honeymoon first and doing the ceremony when they get home. Danny said you wouldn’t mind if we showed up today. Do you?”

“Of course not. I’m sorry to hear about your family and hope they are all recovering, but I’m thrilled you’re here!” She hugged them both again. Jilly couldn’t believe Santa had given her the one thing she really wanted for Christmas. She’d have to outdo herself on next year’s float.

Her mind whirled. “Since it was just the three of us, I was planning on a cooking a little chicken instead of a big turkey, but it’s not defrosted. We can drop it in the sink and eat a little later. I have most of the ingredients for the side dishes, but none of them are prepared.

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