Home For Christmas(8)

Chapter 7





Holly





I thought I was dreaming; at one point I thought I was dead. I’d never felt anything so beautiful in all my life and I never wanted it to end. Then people barged in the room and suddenly my whole dream came crashing down. It’s reality. My mind is struggling to catch up with what’s happening and all I can feel right now is anger.

“Holly, baby. I can explain.” Vance holds his hands up defensively.

“Don’t you ‘baby’ me, Vance.” I wiggle out from under him and stand up too quickly.

I begin to stumble, but he’s there to catch me. It’s then I realize I’m completely naked. And so is he. My eyes travel down the width of his body until I land on his cock. It’s hard and slick and the reality of what we just did hits me. I cover my mouth with my hands, but it’s not because I regret it. It’s because it was everything I dreamed it would be and I thought it wasn’t real.

A warm blanket is draped around me and I look up to his eyes. They’re so sad, but there’s an urgency there. Like he needs me to understand.

My mind can’t process everything at once and I sit down on the edge of the bed nearby. Vance grabs a blanket for himself, draping it around his waist. Then he kneels down in front of me, taking my hands in his.

“It’s okay. Just let me explain.”

I burst into tears and throw my arms around him. All my emotions are going crazy. I’m relieved that he’s here in front of me, so happy, but so confused as to how this happened.

“I-I just.” I choke on a sob and he holds me, rubbing my back. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

“Shh. I know.”

He pulls back and holds my hands again after he wipes away my tears.

“The day you turned eighteen and I dropped you off at your place, the next morning I knew I wanted to make it official. I’d waited long enough for you and wanted the world to know it.” He brings my hand up to his mouth and kisses the back of it. “That next morning I told my mom I was ready to get you a ring. She was the only one who knew all about you. I’d been telling her stories about you for years. Honestly I think she knew you were the one before I did.” He smiles and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “That day she and I went to the other side of town to this really old jewelry store. She said it was the same place that dad had gotten hers years before and I wanted to do the same.”

His smile as soft as he shrugs, and for some reason there’s a hint of blush to his cheeks.

“I thought it would be good luck. Their marriage was everything I wanted, and I knew when I met you that it would be the same for us. When we started driving to the store, we realized that part of town had gotten run down some. It wasn’t too late in the day yet, so I wasn’t worried about it. But it wasn’t the kind of place I would have let you or my mom go alone.”

Vance was always so protective of me and the older ladies at the shelter, I can totally see him not wanting to take him mom to a place that was safe.

“When I parked the car I noticed a group of guys in a car across the street. They watched us get out, and I made sure to lock the car. I didn’t really dwell on the fact that the jewelry store had bars on the windows, because most of them do.”

Vance stands up and begins to pace as he talks.

“When we got inside there was an older man and two younger guys about my age. The old man was really nice and even remembered Mom’s diamond. He went to the back and got out a metal box with a lock on it. When he opened it up there was a black velvet box inside with a ring in it. The second I looked at it, I knew it was the one.” He stops for a second to look at me with his eyebrows pulled together. “I didn’t need to see anything else. I looked at one ring one time and I knew that was the one. Just like I did with you.”

He paces again, lost in thought and I can’t begin to understand how this story leads to him disappearing.

“I paid for the ring and put it in my pocket as the old man went to the back to get the paperwork. I didn’t pay attention to the young guys while I was getting it, but when we were waiting I noticed both of them were carrying.”

“Carrying what?” I ask, and Vance stops to look at me.

“Guns, baby.” He says and goes back to wearing a path in the carpet. “They kept checking their phones then looking to us, then speaking in whispers to each other. I prayed the guy would hurry up so we could get out of there. The hair on the back of my neck was standing up and I knew something bad was coming.”

He stops and he shakes his head like he doesn't want to remember it.